


That Awkward Moment When Your Whole Class Shows Up At Your House

by MurdockSchmurdock



Series: Weird webby stories from Peter Parker’s weird webby life [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Domestic Avengers, Everyone Is Alive, Field Trip, Fluff, Gen, IronDad and SpiderSon, Mild Angst, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Poor Peter Parker, Protective Natasha Romanov, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, flash sucks, infinity war? who's she, oh look another field trip fic, seriously its barely there - Freeform, steve is bad at disguises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2019-11-01 13:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17868323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurdockSchmurdock/pseuds/MurdockSchmurdock
Summary: After May tells Midtown High about an injury Peter sustained in a Spider-man incident, he is more than content to spend the next few weeks "recuperating" at Stark/Avengers Tower.It seems the universe has other plans, however, and Peter ends up being swept into his class's field trip. At Stark Tower.Wonderful.





	1. oof ow my bones

**Author's Note:**

> OK!  
> This is the first fic I've ever let see the light of day, let alone put this much effort into, but I like how it's coming along so far.  
> I have ten chapters written, and the art for five sketched out, so I'm going to try and update every one-two days.  
> Feedback is always appreciated!

“Ugh.”

     The boy groaned, slowly pulling himself into a sitting position as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. Aside from himself, the soft beeping of the heart monitor was the only disruption of the otherwise serene room. He hissed softly as his hand brushed against his brow bone, the gash was mostly healed by now, hardly a cut, but the skin surrounding it was sensitive as ever. He tried to stand but the thick brace on his left ankle prevented him from swinging his legs over the side of the cot. Not to mention the pain that shot through his abdomen when he moved. His fingers found the call button on the rail, and soon a nurse walked cheerily into the room.

“Morning, sunshine” she beamed at him with a vaguely southern accent, adjusting the IV drip to allow more meds into his system “do you need anything in particular?”

“ m’, some water would be nice” The boy mumbled. His tongue felt thick and dry, forcing him to stumble over his words, which, under normal circumstances, would frustrate him to no end. However, these were not normal circumstances, and the only thing he could really think about was the slowly fading ache in his side and the nice jacket draped over the empty chair to his left.

“ Here you are, dear, “ Said the woman, flashing him a grin as he accepted the paper cup “Y’know, he isn’t gonna be too happy you woke up right after he left for coffee”.

     The boy looked groggily at her over the rim of the cup. The cool water was like a little drink of heaven, washing away the sand he was certain coated his throat as he sipped. Finally, he could take in his surroundings. He obviously wasn’t in a regular hospital. The far-too-nice furniture and actual bedding assured him of that.

_Oh yeah_

_Stark Tower_

     He almost facepalmed, remembering the damage to his face at the last second. How could he possibly have forgotten? The increase in crime, finding that lead on a new street drug, the abandoned warehouses, the fight, the gun-

     His runaway thoughts ended abruptly when the door to the room opened suddenly, startling himself and the poor nurse, who jumped. He almost had to laugh, he’d seen Tony in some pretty odd situations, but the frazzled billionaire in a too-big spider-man tshirt, suit pants, hair that made it look like he touched a stray wire, and what was no doubt his tenth cup of coffee standing in the doorway with a worried look on his face was certainly up there. But that might be the morphine talking. If it even was morphine, considering that not much could actually keep him knocked out.

“ Peter? Back to the land of the living?” Tony quipped, poorly attempting to hide the underlying worry in his voice. He took a seat in the chair with the jacket, smiling at the drowsy teen blinking up at him.

“H-hey Mister Stark,” Peter said weakly. “did we get ‘em?” The older man chuckled lightly at this.

“Yeah, we got them, kid. Don’t sweat it.” In an instant his expression switched from gentle to stern “But I swear on whoever it is I’m supposed to swear on, if you pull that stunt again I’ll ground you until you’re eighty” he chastised. Peter didn’t want to laugh, but the way Tony was wagging his finger around was too much like his Aunt. “ And I mean it when I say-what, hey, stop that right now! I’m trying to lecture you and that’s pretty hard when you’re giggling like a little kid.” The finger continued. So did Peter.

     It ended up taking a full five minutes of Peter desperately trying to contain his laughter enough to explain to Tony, who was absolutely horrified at the prospect of turning into Aunt May. Though this did lead to the both of them laughing for another few minutes. Eventually, Peter composed himself, unable to take any more with the battered state he and his ribs were in. He looked over to Tony, who launched back into his speech, this time without waving a finger in Peter’s face.

“Uh,w-wait a sec Mr stark” Tony paused, looking expectantly at the kid. “What, what ended up happening? And where is Aunt May?” The man sighed, massaging his forehead as if it pained him to explain.

“Wow, you really did forget all that, didn’t you?” Peter nods. “ Well, after that new stuff started popping up all over the place, you took it upon yourself to investigate, which I specifically told you not to do, (Peter rolls his eyes at this, earning him a glare) and when you did find a lead, you went and investigated by yourself without telling me or anyone else,” Tony said, his voice rising as he went. “Of course you broke into one of the most heavily armed drug factories in New York and pissed them off by beating up a bunch of their men. You’re pretty damn lucky Karen alerted me when you got shot, otherwise, you would’ve gone up in flames with all that heroin. Why did you set it on fire again?”

“Oh, makes sense.” He said absentmindedly, ignoring Tony’s question. It at least explained the hole in his side. “So is she ok? You still haven’t told me.” Tony sighed, sitting back down by the boy’s side.

" />" alt="Stark_Tower_Medbay" />

“May's fine, she’s sat with you the last two days while you were out. I was able to convince her to get some sleep, but she’ll probably be mad you woke up while she was gone.” He groaned, realizing the trouble he was no doubt going to be in now. “Not to mention I can’t escape her anymore.” This confused the teen, of course his Aunt May was inescapable, but why was Mr. Stark making a deal out of it now?

_Oh Yeah (again)_

Somehow Peter had completely blanked on the most recent shocking development in his life. Last week, a battle between the Avengers (Peter included!) and a GLFS (Giant Lizard From Space) resulted in a significant portion of Queens getting flattened, more or less. Including he and May’s apartment. The building was still salvageable but currently unlivable, so without anywhere else to go, Peter and May Parker moved into the Avengers quarters at Stark Tower. Of course, May assured him it was temporary, and offered to pay Mr. Stark back for everything he did (He wouldn’t let her) but Peter found himself hoping more and more the reconstruction would take far longer than necessary. He already pretty much lived there anyway, he had his own room, stayed over almost every weekend, and the Avengers were practically family at this point. A permanent stay would be a dream come true.

     He was dragged back from his thoughts by more rambling from Tony. apparently, the whole “bullet to the stomach” situation had him more worked up than he thought, as he was pacing back in forth along the four feet of the bed’s foot.

 “Mr. Stark?” Peter interrupted, stopping Tony in his tracks as he went on about responsibilities.

“Yeah, kid? You need something?” Tony stopped pacing to return to his spot by Peter’s side, bouncing his leg as he sat down.

“When am I getting out of here? I know I’m still healing and all, but I have a chemistry test on Thursday, and I can’t miss it!” He said, the worry obvious in his voice. Tony snorted at his words.

“Only you’d be freaking out about a test after almost dying from like, three separate things. But don’t, I’ll talk to the school and have them schedule a day for you to make it up. You can get everything else from your friends, right?”

“You still haven’t answered me” Peter scowled “how long am I stuck in this hospital bed?”

“Well, the bullet did some serious damage, and your ankle was basically snapped in half. The five broken ribs you deal with fairly often, but even with your healing factor you’re gonna be recovering for a while. At least two weeks.” Peter’s face fell, and Tony quickly followed up with “ but you’ll probably only be in here until tomorrow. They just needed to make sure nothing inside you would open back up.” Tony paused before gently ruffling the kid’s hair

“Plus, your Aunt Hottie accidentally used your broken ankle as the reason why you weren’t at school two days ago so we kinda have to run with it.”

 


	2. the Captain's Spaghetti to help you forgetti your regrettis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midtown's Chemistry classes get a surprise announcement, Ned does an oopsie, Peter suffers the consequences, and The Avengers have dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, formatting is a real pain  
> it's coolio though because it's worth it in the end  
> right?  
> I hope it isn't too hard to decipher the group chat bits, I was just typing how my friends and I talk, with some style variations for the different characters.  
> anyways, enjoy!

     Peter sat cross-legged on his bed. When he first started staying at Stark Tower, he claimed the guest bedroom two doors down from Tony and Pepper. It was a beautiful room, at least three times the size of his back at the apartment, with a window spanning the curved wall opposite the door. The window and accompanying balcony offered a spectacular view of the New York skyline, and evenings filled the room with the reds and oranges of sunset. It even had automated privacy screens that rose up to the ceiling, preventing unwanted light or prying eyes from entering the room. Despite these wondrous things, the space was admittedly… sparse. The only furniture was the king sized bed, an end table, and a lamp for said table. Not to say they weren’t _nice_ beds, tables, and lamps, but they definitely made the room seem bigger.

     So, Pepper took him shopping. Tony would’ve, but he wasn’t the best when it came to interior decoration, and Ms. Potts at least had some modicum of self-restraint. The pair spent a whole week planning, designing, and finally buying all the furniture necessary to turn the empty room into a livable space. And as it turns out, Peter had a real knack for it (Pepper’s words, not his).

     His walls were a charcoal grey that appeared matte until you looked at them just right, and saw how they shimmered just so in a way most paint can’t. You could hardly see it, though, as they were covered floor to ceiling in various posters (mainly star wars, but a large ironman somehow ended up by his bed). Pressing one panel would slide it back to reveal his normal suit, though Peter figured he should get around to putting some kind of security measure over it. Soft creme carpet gave way to hardwood oak by his desk on the far left side, the shelves around it stacked with books, Lego creations, and his movie collection. A huge wardrobe held the few clothes he was able to salvage from his apartment, but Tony swore he’d fill it up before the end of the year. And as a final touch, Tony had given him new bedsheets. Well, given was a stretch, as one day he just walked in to see some very red very blue and very spiderman themed covers. He still thought it was a little weird to sleep with yourself, but they were comfy and kind of funny, so he didn’t complain.

     Now, he sat cross-legged on his disheveled logo, excitably texting Ned and Mj about everything that had happened. He would’ve sooner, but his phone was ruined during the battle, his laptop was lost with the apartment, and carrier pigeons just didn’t seem like a viable option at the time. Peter was about to throw on the suit and just talk to them in person when Mr. Stark walked into his room, threw a small package on his bed with a smirk, and walked back out with not so much as a word. Hopefully, the new StarkPhone wouldn’t break as easily as its predecessor.

* * *

 

**Dream Team Meme Team**

* * *

 

**Spoderman:** so im not dead

**Chair_guy:** peter! dude where were you

**Michelle-in_man:** figured you werent

**Spoderman:** ya my phone broke sorry

**FreShuricado:** u know i offered u an unbreakable vibranium phone right

**Chair_guy:** ok you have to tell us everything now

**Spoderman:** dont worry i will dude

**Spoderman:** so basically it started with this guy telling me about some heroin after i broke his nose right

* * *

 

     Peter spent most of the morning recounting the epic tale of how he got his ass handed to him, catching up with notes from the classes they shared, going over Shuri’s plans for new lightsabers, and listening to the gossip he missed out on. There wasn’t anything incredibly interesting, other than Flash taking his decathlon spot, but that could be addressed later.

* * *

 

**Michelle-in_man:** when are you getting back anyways

**Spoderman:** mr stark said probably not until the end of next week

**Chair_guy:** gotta go for a bit, third period just started

**Spoderman:**  F

**Michelle-in_man:** F

**Freeshuricado:** F

* * *

 

     He stretched and set his phone down, sliding off his bed., hissing a bit as he put weight on his sore ankle. Third period was chemistry, and the ruthless Mr. Everson had a zero-tolerance policy for phones, notes, sleeping, doodling, and more. In fact, the policy seemed to extend to everything except bullying. It was the only class he had with both Ned and MJ, but what little fun they had was often ruined by Flash, who sat directly behind them. He limped over to his desk and sat down. _Might as well get started on that homework while I wait,_ he thought to himself. Even the decathlon group chat would be dead for a while, considering most of them were in the class

He had only gotten a few problems done when his phone started going off. Ding after ding had him rushing over to scoop it off his bed and see what exactly had caused his phone to become possessed. It was Ned, and also the Decathlon chat. He checked Ned first.

* * *

 

**Chair_guy:** DUDE

**Chair_guy:** DUDEDUDEDUDE

**Spoderman:** NED wHat

**Chair_guy** : o wait youre gonna miss it

**Spoderman** : miss what ned

**Spoderman** : ur scaring me here

**Chair_guy** : our class is going on a field trip

**Chair_guy** : TO STARK TOWER!!

**Spoderman** : oh no

**Chair_guy** : ITS OVERNIGHT AAAAAA

**Spoderman** : ned youve literally slept over here like six times

**Chair_guy:** well yea but the whole class is comin

**Chair_guy:** still bummed you wont be able to come 

**Spoderman:** ned

**Chair_guy:** oh no

* * *

 

     This is the worst possible thing that could happen. His entire class, no doubt including Flash, of all people, would be _at his house_. There were a million scenarios swirling around in his head, each one worse than the last. He could always avoid them, he thought. But then again, They already doubted his internship was real, if they showed up and he didn’t, he might as well go ahead and shove himself in a locker. Then again…

* * *

 

**Spoderman:** wait wait it’ll be fine

**Chair_guy:** uhhh how tho

**Spoderman:** They know im hurt right

**Chair_guy:** ya

**Spoderman:** but they dont know i live here

**Spoderman:** if i stay out of the way no one will ever know

**Chair_guy:** …

**Spoderman:** what

**Chair_guy:** nothing lol

**Chair_guy:** just wondering completely unrelated have you been on the big chat

**Michelle-in_man:** ohhhh boy

* * *

 

  _No,_ Peter thought, _I haven’t._ The Decathlon Chat was exactly what it sounded like, a huge group chat mostly for the decathlon members and a few others who were friends with the people who made the chat. Including Flash. It was practically exploding with messages, probably about the field trip. Peter quickly switched accounts and let his finger hover over the chat. For a moment he considered just muting it and ignoring whatever was no doubt being said about him. The next second he was tapping the chat name and was whisked away into a whirlwind of texts.

* * *

 

**Knowledge Cult/Decathlon Chat**

* * *

 

**C00lest_kid:** cant wait to see the look on penis face when he gets back

**Banjobongo:** dont be a dick flash

**Baberaham:** u gotta admit this is taking the intern thing 2 far

**Bettyyyyy:** well i guess so

**Bettyyyyy:** Peter didnt even say it it was ned

**C00lest_kid:** yea but he probably told him to

**Tj456rekt:** he does anything penis tells him 2 lol

**YeeterParker:** what flash

**Banjobongo** : ohhhh shooot

**C00lest_kid:** wow penis, u sending this on the superior stark wifi

**YeeterParker:** what does that mean

**Tj456rekt:** i guess interning 4 stark wasnt enough huh

**C00lest_kid:** did you really think we’d believe you live there 2

* * *

 

     So they did know. Peter groaned and slid down in his chair.

" alt="peters_room" />

* * *

 

**YeeterParker:** where did you get that idea

**Baberaham:** maybe ur friend should be more careful about what he says in class

**Bettyyyy:** sorry peter i dont think i believe this one

**C00lest_kid:** its gonna be so great when we show up n penis isnt there

**C00lest_kid:** too chicken 2 own up to his lie lmao

**YeeterParker:** im still here you know

**Tj456rekt:** well do u live there or not

**YeeterParker:** uh yeet

**Baberaham:** ur really goin with it damn

**Michelle-in_man:** he won’t be on the tour anyways

**C00lest_kid:** why? Too busy crying, penis?

**YeeterParker:** car accident, broken ankle

**C00lest_kid:** yeah, sure penis

**Michelle-in_man:** for a straight guy you sure have penis in your mouth a lot, flash

**_*several people are typing*_ **

**Banjobongo:** flash got his phone taken

**Tj456rekt:** F

* * *

 

     Despite the situation, Peter found himself grinning. He’d leave MJ to deal with that mess, she could hold her own. Still, he was now faced with an impossible decision. Once again he switched to his other account.

* * *

 

**Dream Team Meme Team**

* * *

 

**Spoderman:** ned

**Chair_guy:** uhhhhh… sorry?

**Spoderman:** how?

**Chair_guy:** well i honestly dont know how he got that out of wat i said

**Michelle-in_man:** uhuh

**Chair_guy:** i was just telling mj how i couldnt wait to see flash’s face when he realized you lived at stark tower

**Chair_guy:** and i kinda forgot flash had ears

**Spoderman:** ned thats literally the worst thing you couldve done

**Chair-guy:** so what are you gonna do

**Spoderman:** either find a way to show up, which i can’t do bc i cant go on the trip, or don’t show up and effectively commit danger word

**Michelle-in_man:** tough luck dude

* * *

 

     Peter let the rest of his body slide from the chair to the floor under his desk. With his phone held at arm's length above him, he typed out one last question.

* * *

 

**Spoderman:** so when is it

**Chair_guy:** tuesday, I think

**Michelle-in_man:** yeah probably

**Spoderman:** well at least I have a few days to prepare.

* * *

 

     He let out another overdramatic groan from under the desk. The phone somehow slipped from his fingers and clocked him in the forehead. The young vigilante laid there for far longer than was probably healthy.

     Peter couldn’t escape reality entirely though, as FRIDAY announced dinner over the coms. Begrudgingly, he ducked out from under the table, barely missing the edge and silently resolving not to mention this to any of the other tower residents. Now he just had to avoid anyone noticing that something was off.

     Generally, most of the Avengers stayed Upstate, at the Compound, but after a particularly bad accident involving the ventilation system, expanding foam, and a certain bird-theme-inclined archer, the living quarters were essentially unlivable. As a result, quite a few of the Avengers were holed up at Stark Tower until further notice. The penthouse floors Tony designed still had all of their rooms and equipment from before they moved, so it was a fairly easy process to move them back.

     It was nostalgic, really, as the avengers settled back into their old routines around the tower. Peter hadn’t been around for those days, before Germany and Siberia, but Tony’s stories were enough for him to picture it. He also noticed that since they had all moved back, the older man had been in a significantly better mood. The fall out from the aforementioned incidents had really weighed on him, even after the accords were mended and the ex-ex-avengers were pardoned. The tension at the compound after they initially returned was almost palpable. But having most of the old team back together like this seemed to be doing wonders. Even still, though, some things had yet to be mended, Tony would hardly speak to Bucky, and Steve would occasionally fight with him over nothing. But the domestic life did seem to be healing them.

     And how domestic it was. Peter was still caught off guard every time he saw his childhood heroes sleeping sprawled out on the couch, doing chores, or violently beating each other with pillows (that was a good night).

     He also didn’t think he’d ever get used to seeing Captain America singing old songs in a pink apron as he cooked, which was exactly what he was doing right now. Cap was one of the few Avengers who seemed to know how to handle a kitchen, and the only one willing to cook enough for a dozen people, half of which were enhanced enough to eat a literal horse. And judging by the savory aroma beginning to fill the floor, it was spaghetti night.

     Peter walked into the massive kitchen, taking his spot on the huge marble island. There were enough barstools to seat all the Avengers, with a few to spare. Peter leaned on the counter, stomach rumbling in anticipation of the pasta as everyone started to trickle in.

“ Hey kid, how you holdin’ up?” Bruce asked, smiling at Peter from the other side of the island.

“ Never better, Dr. Banner!” Peter responded, probably a bit cheerier than necessary.

“You _can_ call me Bruce, you know?” The scientist said, raising an eyebrow. Peter scratched his head and grinned back.

“Yeah, I got it Dr- uh, Bruce.”

     Natasha strode in, snagging a seat next to Bruce, leaning backward and nodding at Peter. Peter nodded back and scooted his chair over for Aunt May, who gave him a big kiss on his forehead as soon as she sat down.

“Wha- hey!” Peter protested, scooting his chair away quickly, almost knocking over the ones behind him.

     Steve turned around, chuckling at the teen’s fruitless efforts to escape his aunt’s affections. He opened his mouth to say something before a hand reached out and snagged a noodle out of the pot. Peter couldn’t help but snort as Steve whipped around with the most exaggerated look of indignation on his face to chastise Tony, who didn’t bat an eye.

“Hey, not my fault you’re keeping us waiting,” Tony said, gesturing to the hungry faces of everyone sitting around the counter.

     Cap mumbled something about ‘grimy little fingers’ and took the sauce off the burner, dishing the noodles out haphazardly onto 11 large plates and scooping sauce over the top of each. He passed them around the table as Clint and Sam came walking in,  taking their seats while they chatted about something or other. Tony sat on the other side of Peter, who had cautiously moved his chair back towards May. Lastly, Steve sat down between Tony and Bucky, who were doing their damnedest not to look at each other.

“Well,” Steve said, pausing for effect “let’s dig in!”

     Peter honestly thought it was the best spaghetti he’d ever had. He did his best to be polite as he stuffed his face, but he was absolutely starving. An enhanced metabolism would do that to you, he felt like he hadn’t eaten in days. Though it had really been more like two hours. Well, superhuman metabolism or not, Steve’s cooking was delicious. He scarfed down enough to sate him for at least a few hours, and leaned back in his chair contentedly. The others were chatting about this and that, how their days were, news about the accords, when the compound would be back up. Peter joined in occasionally, animatedly getting his opinion in somewhere or laughing at a bad joke.  

     Spirits seemed to be high, Tony even laughed at something Bucky said. _I guess some good food can make you forget about just about anything, huh?_ Peter thought to himself, grinning. Until he remembered the trip on Tuesday. He let out a quiet groan, his shoulders sagging. He would have sunk down farther into the chair if Tony wasn’t giving him a weird look.

“You good, Pete?” Tony asked. Peter was suddenly aware of most everyone looking at him.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, just…” He struggled to come up with an excuse that wouldn’t be a full-on lie “just worried about being behind on my work.”

     He flushed as Tony raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing the teen.

“Uh-huh. Well, you know I’ve already called your school and had all that arranged, so I don’t know why you’re so worried. It’s only for another week.” Tony shrugged and turned back to the dregs of his spaghetti. Peter sighed, relieved as the table resumed their conversations. _That was close,_ he thought, but he couldn’t help noticing Tony shooting the occasional concerned glances at him from the corner of his eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell that I spent more time on the iron man and xenomorph posters and The Chair than Peter?  
> I'm kicking myself for not remembering the whole "All of Peter's furniture is on his ceiling because he's weird and defies the laws of physics" headcanon bc man I love it.  
> So let's just pretend that there's a web hammock somewhere in there.  
> Let me know if there's anything I need to fix in the comments, and thank y'all for reading!


	3. Monday Morning Get Brektfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter wakes up to the calm before the storm, Steve makes bacon, and Tony gives Peter some chores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter 3!  
> it's a bit short but was really fun to write. The good stuff will start pretty soon ;)
> 
> on a related note, thank you guys so much for 150 Kudos! It's been a blast sharing this story with y'all and reading your comments.

Two Days Later

“Good morning, Peter” a voice cut through the boy’s dream. Peter made a vaguely human noise and rolled over in his bed. The first rays of sunshine were peeking through the blinds, sending sharp lines of light across the room. 

“Captain Rogers is fixing breakfast in the kitchen. Shall I let him know you’re awake?” The voice continued, forcing him to pull the covers from his head.

“Sure, FRI, tell ‘m whatever” He mumbled, squinting his eyes against the sun. The smell of bacon overwhelmed him as he sat up, stretching until his back popped. He threw on some sweatpants and a Spider-Man T-shirt Sam has given him.  Which he still thought was kinda weird, but Sam had also given Tony a matching one so he was pretty much fine with it. He also grabbed a red, black, and white striped bathrobe that he didn’t actually need, but liked anyway. Right as he went to step out the door, his phone began beeping like the world was ending. 

     Peter glanced at the notifications, and the flood of messages from Ned reminded him of his predicament. Tomorrow was the field trip, and he still had no idea what to do. The teen silenced his phone, ignoring the messages. As much as he loved talking to his friends, it was his last day before he either got beat up by Flash for lying or had to deal with everyone knowing about him living at the Tower and potentially risking his secret identity. But, that was tomorrow. Today he could mull over the decision and pretend like nothing was happening at all.

     Steve hummed softly as he expertly flipped a pancake with one skillet, and slid one onto a growing stack with another. Clint stood next to him, muttering as he started on another batch of scrambled eggs. The super soldier was pretty sure he hadn’t even opened his eyes since he got out of bed, but the -ding- coffee should fix that. Peter blearily walked into the kitchen, practically crawling into his usual chair. Cap smiled warmly and slid him a large stack of pancakes and a plate of bacon.

“Mornin’ Peter. Did you sleep well?” He asked, turning back around to flip another pancake.

“ mmmmuuuuuhhhhhhh” Peter responded.

“Well, eggs will be ready soon if you want any.”

“Mmm”

     Steve couldn’t tell whether the unholy noise was caused by Peter stuffing his face or just not being fully awake.  _ Either way, it’s kind of adorable  _ he smiled to himself.

     Peter slowly ate his way through the monstrous stack of pancakes as he started to wake up. By the time he got to the bacon, his brain was on at least 40% power. None of the other Avengers seemed to be up, but that was to be expected. The wafting smells of breakfast would have them running soon enough. For now, though, it was just him, Steve sitting next to him, and Clint, who had climbed on top of the fridge with the bowl of eggs in nothing but some iron man boxers.  They sat in comfortable silence for a while, simply enjoying each others company in the early morning light. 

     In fact, it was so quiet, Peter started to get a bit drowsy. He didn’t really recognize that his eyelids were drooping until he was practically back asleep. A rough hand tousling his hair snapped him out of his reverie and sent him screaming to the ceiling. For a moment, no one moved.

" alt="Underoos on the Roof" />

“Jesus, kid!” Tony yelled, looking at Peter’s moon-sized eyes from where he hung from the roof. 

“Mr. Stark! You- I mean, I, you,” he sputtered, stumbling over his words as he recovered from the unexpected shock “you scared me!”

“Well, I’m sorrrrry!” Tony’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but there was no malice behind it “maybe you shouldn’t be, I dunno, falling asleep at the table?”

     Steve, meanwhile, was doing his best not to absolutely lose it at the situation. Tony Stark was currently arguing back and forth with a kid in a bathrobe who was on the ceiling. Luckily for him, Clint gave in first.

“BAHAHAHAOHMYGOSHAHAHAH” Clint was dangerously close to rolling off the fridge. Tony froze mid-insult and turned towards the source of the laughter. 

“What the-  _ Hey _ !! I told you to stop sitting up there!” Tony fumed “you’re going to break it, or yourself, not to mention it’s freakin’ weird!” 

     Steve couldn’t take it anymore. He had to sit down on the floor he was laughing so hard.

“And  _ what  _ are those?!” Tony yelled, gesturing to Clint’s iron undies “I mean- actually, y’know what? We’re not getting into this right now but Clint Barton when you are in my house you will wear  _ PANTS!”  _

     Now Peter was laughing, his whole body shook and he fell off the ceiling, directly onto Tony. Seeing his opportunity, Barton quickly scuttled into an overhead vent by the fridge, pulling the slats closed behind him. They could hear him giggling and the not obvious at all sound of someone trying to run through small metal vents as he made his escape. 

     By this point, Steve was crying, Peter was lying across Tony’s chest holding his stomach as he laughed, and Tony Stark was laying spread eagle on his kitchen floor trying to think of every sad thing ever so he  _ wouldn’t  _ laugh. 

“Okay,” Tony sat up abruptly, rolling the still snickering teenager off of him “I really need to make him stop doing that.”

     Peter leaned against the island, wiping the tears from his eyes, and looked over at the Captain, who was gasping for breath. Once they had all regained their composure (almost, Steve still snorted every so often) and sat back at the table, Tony snagged a piece of bacon and rested an arm on the counter. 

“Ok, Pete, I know you’ve had it easy all week but I got a couple chores I’m gonna need you to help me with.” He said, occasionally biting off some bacon “unless your ankle’s still actin up”

     It wasn’t, it had felt fine since Saturday, but Peter still put on his very best sad eyes and over dramatically flopped to the floor. 

“Oh, Mr. Stark, I don’t think I can do  _ anything  _ today,” he whined, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye “I’m just,  _ so weak”. _

     Tony grinned, nudging the kid with his foot 

“Well, in that case, I suppose you could just attend the three board meetings I have back to back this morning with me” he drawled, looking pointedly at the kid with his brows raised.

     Peter pushed himself up off the ground, to his feet, and did a little spin.

“Wow Mr Stark, I feel so much better already!” He replied, barely holding back a laugh.

“Good” Stark said, handing Peter a short list of tasks “I have those meetings most of this morning, and this afternoon I have to deal with some tour group, so I’ll have you help me with that-“ Peter began reading through the list, it was mostly menial things like cleaning his room and his workspace in Tony’s lab, but one particular item stuck out to him.

“Uh, Mr. Stark, what do you mean by  _ change lightbulbs _ ?”

“So after that then- oh, I figured I’d use your stickiness to our advantage, just, just check the bulbs up here and change any you need to, then go to the lobby as well. I think we have a couple out in there and it’s just  _ such a pain  _ to get-“ Tony continued, rattling off the various things on the list and what he’d be doing all day.

     Peter interrupted him again.

“No, I mean, the lobby ones. It’s- _ the lobby _ . How am I supposed to do that?” 

     Tony saw the confusion on his face and sighed, putting his hand on his shoulder as he explained.

“Kid, no ones gonna be in there. It’s like 8 right now, and people usually start showing up around 9. Plus the receptionist already knows who you are.” 

      Peter blushed subconsciously at the mention of Mrs. Crowl. That had been quite the day, and he still felt bad about it. But he figured it was best not to dwell on it.

“ if you’re really worried, just put on the mask, even if someone sees they’ll just figure Spidey’s finally pulling his weight. No one will have any idea it’s you.” Tony shrugged, patting the kid lightly on the shoulder. “But I suggest you do that one soon, just so we don’t have any more Crowl incidents. Tell you what. When we’re done, we’ll go down to the lab and work on that new upgrade you’re finishing the schematics for. Sound good?” Peter nodded vigorously. “Well, I gotta go, see you around, let’s say, 1? Later Rogers, Nat” He smiled at Peter and messed up his hair one more time before spinning on his heel to walk out of the kitchen. Peter grinned back and wished him a good day. 

     When he turned back to his food, he saw Natasha innocently eating the rest of his bacon.

“good morning, маленький паучок,” she said, winking fondly at him. All Peter could do was roll his eyes jokingly and start to wash off his plate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gee I sure wonder what's gonna happen next :)  
> I know I don't have all the Avenger's magnets on the fridge, and please just ignore whatever's happening with Tony, but I honestly just wanted to finish it lmao  
> I'm going to get a head start on the drawing for chapter 4 , it'll probably post early tomorrow morning 
> 
> Also, does anyone know how to find a good beta reader? These later chapters have got me feeling like I need a second opinion on some things, at least to check for plotholes, repetition, etc.
> 
> Let me know you catch a mistake, have a critique, or just what you think in the comments!  
> Thanks Y'all uwu


	4. He Shoulda Checked Himself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter does an oopsie, changes some lightbulbs, and immediately rekts himself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished with this one oof  
> This drawing's probably the only one that'll have any kind of shading because I loved the sketch and it ended up working out.  
> just an FYI, There's going to be some information about updates in the notes at the end of the chapter.  
> Enjoy!

     The list was very hastily scribbled onto a sticky note, Tony’s messy hybrid of cursive and chicken scratch making it vaguely hard to read. Peter looked back over the list, thinking about everything he needed to do and what the best plan of action was.

  * Change lightbulbs
  * Clean room
  * Organize workspace (pack up classifieds)
  * Finish make up work for today
  * Figure out a few things that will entertain that tour group (fill me in at 1)



_ I might as well start in my room,  _ Peter thought, considering that it wasn’t even that messy.  _ Then the lab, and then the lightbulbs _ .

    He made good time in his bedroom, all he really needed to do was put away some clothes and organize some stray legos that managed to escape the night before. It was barely 8:15 when he started on the lab, dutifully putting each screw and nut back into their designated drawers, rubbing down his desk, and wrapping up unfinished projects to be put away. He also did some light cleanup of the rest of the lab, wiping away the dust and wiping up spilled motor oil by the shelves (Thanks DUM-E). He may have gotten too carried away though, as it was almost 8:50 by the time he finished.

_ Crap,  _ he thought as he pulled out drawers and searched through shelves for the bulbs. Peter could’ve sworn he’d seen them  _ somewhere,  _ but at the moment they were nowhere to be found. Of course he forgot to do the one thing Tony told him to do first. Of course he’d have to do it while people were around. Just his Parker Luck, he guessed. 

“Looking for these?”

     Peter whipped around to see Bucky leaning against the lab doors, his dark hair pulled back into a bun and his metal arm concealed by a pink sweatshirt. Under said arm, he carried a large cardboard box, the contents of which Peter could hear clinking around. 

“Ah! Thank you Mr. Barnes Sir.” Peter gasped, relieved that he wasn’t actually going crazy. “But I have to ask, where’d you find them? And how did you know I’d need em?”

“Uh, I heard Tony complaining about how much of a pain it was to get the *special bulbs fixed* a few days ago” Bucky smiled faintly at Peter “then I saw this weird box in the laundry room yesterday. Didn’t think anything of it until I heard you getting told off this morning and put two and two together.” 

     Peter grinned back, thanking the super soldier again for his help. When the now ex-ex Avengers returned to the tower, he had been wary of the quiet and guarded man. He was certainly intimidating, with his (awesome) arm and off-putting demeanor. But as it turned out, Bucky had some really great stories, even better advice, and was perfectly happy to let Peter stick random magnets to his arm. He didn’t fully understand why Tony hated him so much, but when neither him, Steve or Bucky would tell him anything he decided to give up and just let it be. 

_      Dang. _ Now it was officially 9 and Peter hadn’t even started on the lights. He quickly ran up the wall and checked all around the living quarters, he only had to replace three. he dropped back to the floor with a twist and ducked around Sam as he ran to his room. Pressing his palm on the poorly hidden panel, he grabbed the web shooters and his mask, stuffing it unceremoniously into his robe pocket. The shooters snapped onto his wrists with a  _ click,  _  and Peter snatched a pair of (wall clinging approved) Captain America socks. Soon enough, he was pressing the elevator button and shoving on the socks with one hand, the other around the box of lightbulbs. As he began his descent to the ground floor, he slipped on the mask

“Hello, Peter. I thought Mr. Stark did not want you patrolling until you were fully healed” he was greeted by a familiar voice.

“Oh, hey Karen. First of all, I am fully healed” if AIs could be incredulously silent, Karen definitely was. “and second, all I’m doing is changing some light bulbs” Peter explained “which he  _ told  _ me to do.”

“Very well, Peter. I will be here if you are in need of any assistance.” The monotone voice replied.

*ding*

“Oh, this is our floor” 

     Apart from the labs and the penthouse, the lobby was one of Peters favorite places in the tower. In all honesty, lobby was a horrible word for it. ‘Lobby’ sounds like the waiting area of a dingy orthodontist’s office or the big-ish entrance hall of every chain hotel. Lobbys were small and quaint and poorly lit. So naturally, the lobby of Stark Tower was anything but.

     The massive space was shaped like a slightly bent semicircle, with the curved outer edge covered in windows that let the light in at any time of day. The inside wall displayed tinted windows of office space, spaced between stark white walls. It went up an easy twelve stories, with the ceiling being only slightly smaller than the marble tiled floors. Three elevators sat in the center of the wall, two going to floors -5 to 70, and the middle going all the way up to floor 93. A few green ferns and dark leather couches were dotted in circles around the room, currently populated by a couple smartly dressed men who were avoiding breathing in each other’s direction. Two large curved desks flanked the elevators, with four computers behind each, but currently, only one was occupied. And above it all, twenty large lights situated in the ceiling provided enough light to reach any area the morning sun may miss.

     Peter sighed inwardly to himself, he wasn’t really looking forward to climbing all the way up there. Lucky for him, only one was out. A shriek met his ears, causing him to flinch as he stepped out of the elevator. 

“Sorry Mrs. Crowl” he grimaced, looking over at the woman.

     Crowl frowned and rubbed her temples, sending a glance over to the spooked businessmen.

“It’s fine, Pe- I mean, Spider-Man, just please don’t startle me like that.” She groaned, leaning back in her chair as he shuffled into the lobby, dropping the box next to her desk. 

 “Thanks, Mrs. Crowl. I swear I’ll get you a bagel tomorrow!” He said. She rolled her eyes at him, turning back to whatever it was she was doing on her computer with a chuckle. 

      He stood in front of the wall, staring up at it. He would have to climb, seeing as Mr. Stark would not appreciate having to clean webbing off the ceiling. Not that it’d be hard or anything, just long and annoying. Plus he’d probably make him do it anyway, which meant more work. Peter had just stuck his hand to the wall when he heard one of the businessmen loudly conversing with his colleague.

  “who the hell’s the kid in the Spider-Man mask,” he said harshly, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in Peters direction. He didn’t even need his super hearing to catch that.

“No idea,” said the other man, who looked less inclined to causing a scene “just ignore him.”

 “Tch, you’re right.” The first man said, talking slightly louder than before “probably just some street rat who wants to be a charity case” 

     Peter rolled his eyes under the mask. What he was about to do was stupid, but honestly, he couldn’t help it. He tucked a bulb into his robe before leaning on the wall and facing them. Guy #1 didn’t notice, but guy #2 looked pointedly over the edge of his self-help book and basically whispered: “I think he heard you.” 

     Peter waited for him to turn around before exclaiming mockingly “tsk tsk tsk, O ye of little faith”. Then, he started scurrying up the wall. He was already three stories up before the guys could react, alternating between jumping and climbing as he scaled the side of the building. Man, he missed this. He hadn’t patrolled in over a week, and he didn’t realize exactly how much he wanted to be back out there, swinging and flipping long after his arms began to burn, until he started climbing this dumb wall. At least he wouldn’t have to wait much longer. The week was almost up, and Bruce said he should be good to go by then.

     He quickly reached the top and planted his feet on the ceiling, letting go with his hands. Now that he was completely upside down, he walked over to the faulty bulb and began unscrewing it. This proved much harder to do when you are upside down, so he squatted and eventually got it out. Now for the tricky part; maneuvering the bulbs so he didn’t drop either of them and could avoid his robe falling off. He should have just taken it off earlier, but he didn’t really want anyone to see him wearing the T-shirt with his face on it. Well, Spiderman’s face. He wasn’t  _ that  _ self-absorbed. 

     Carefully, he stuck his fingers to the old bulb and held it between his knees as he screwed in the replacement. Done! Peter stood up, (or is it stood down?) and secured the old bulb in his robe like he did the other one, admiring his handiwork. 

     Suddenly, his ear caught the sound of the large glass doors below opening, filling the lobby with the sounds of excited chatter and the city.  _ That must be the tour group Mr. Stark was talking about _ , he said to himself, debating whether he should wait and see if they’d leave, or if he should try and get past them as fast as possible. Until voices began yelling.

“Hey look! That guy’s on the roof!”

“Is-is that Spiderman?”

_ very familiar voices. _

     Peter slowly turned around, dreading what he was going to see under him. Standing in the lobby of Stark Tower, was a group of starstruck high schoolers, all of them with Midtown High visitor badges. Standing in the middle of the group, finger pointed directly at him, was Flash Thompson. Whose face turned from confusion to adoration as he saw the mask.

 

" alt="The_Big_Oof" />

_ Oh, this is gross. _

     Peter thought, frozen in place on the ceiling. 

     Then his foot began to slip.

_ Oh, this is  _ **_bad._ **

     Peter thought next, as his feet disconnected and he began to fall towards the shiny marble floors.

     Luckily, he was able to snap out his wrist and shoot a web, which stuck to an office window with a loud * _ THWAP*,  _ and allowed him to swing to the wall, feet hitting with an even louder * _ WHUMP* _ . He set his hands on the window, making an apologetic gesture to the man who just spilled coffee all over himself inside, before squatting to collect himself. Panicking was bad. Panicking was exactly what he was doing. Taking deep breaths, he composed himself and jumped the remaining five floors to land perfectly on his feet in front of the twenty-five people he wanted to avoid more than anything in his life (except Ned, who was gaping at him from the back)

“Uhh…” He said, completely at a loss for words, and suddenly remembering exactly what he was wearing. “hey?”

“Hey,” said Ned, as quietly as possible.

      When no one said anything, Peter grabbed the box of bulbs and sprinted onto the private elevator as fast as he could, painfully aware of every single eye on him as the doors closed. As soon as he pressed Floor 91 and rose out of sight of the class, he pulled off the mask, exhaling and sliding down the side of the lift to rest on the floor. At the top, he dropped the lights in the lab, stumbled to his bed, and fell face first onto his pillows.

     His phone vibrated, so he picked it up and wearily checked his notifications.

* * *

 

**Dream Team Meme Team**

* * *

 

**Chair_guy:** i tried to warn you dude

**Spoderman:** how long is this supposed to last

**Michelle-in_man:** its overnight

* * *

 

 

     Peter didn’t bother responding, instead returning to his place amongst the blankets. This was gonna be a long day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip Peter Benjamin Parker
> 
> Ok, I'm going to try and get chapter 5 up tonight, because tomorrow I have to go sit in a courtroom for twelve hours and draw people trying not to yell at each other and will have no time to work on the story or post anything.  
> I've also hit a bit of a writer's block, but I'm working around it so hopefully, updates won't be affected by that.  
> Let me know what you think in the comments, smash like and subscribe don't forget to hit that bell button  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Yeet


	5. Peter Parker should trademark bad luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter confides in Mr. Stark. This may not have been the best idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are really starting to get interesting.  
> Currently, it is 11:30 where I am which isn't that late but I am very tired and just finished watching Surfs Up (that penguin movie with Shia Lebouf) with my friend. We were supposed to be in bed two hours ago. I have Mock Trial tomorrow.   
> It's ok though!!  
> Enjoy!!

     Peter still had his head buried in his bed when he heard the familiar sound of an elevator opening and the similarly familiar sound of Tony Stark talking loudly to himself. The voice seemed to flit around, going in and out at minute intervals. He could tell Mr. Stark was walking around aimlessly, from the kitchen to the living room, the foyer, and past the hallway. Man were enhanced senses weird.

     After another pass by the hallway, Tony stopped, turned around, and started again, walking and talking directly into Peter's room

     “Kiddo, you will not believe how lucky I am right now, two of the meetings got canceled after one of the Exxon guys ditched, no idea what that’s about, but hey, I don’t have to sit through anything else” He rambled, spitting everything out of his brain at once “ hey, wait a second, have you finished everything I asked you to? We can’t have Spiderman getting lazy all of a sudden.” Peter said nothing, he just groaned some more into the bed. He seemed to do a lot of groaning lately. Tony frowned, standing idly in the doorway as he thought through the situation. After rubbing his hands a few times he walked up to the bed. Peter felt part of his mattress dip where he sat. He could feel the tension he was holding in his shoulders melt away as his mentor massaged his neck with one hand.

     “What’s up Pete? There’s no way I ran you into the ground already.” Tony joked, but Peter could hear the concern in his voice. Sighing, he flipped over onto his back, folding his arms over his chest.

     “That tour group got here a bit early.” He said, a little bit more accusingly than he’d meant to.

     Tony raised an eyebrow. “A couple of kids seeing you in the mask is what’s got you flopping like a fish?” the vigilante responded by rubbing his eyes with his palms and grumbling.

     “Nope, nuh-uh, you know I don’t speak teenager.” Stark quipped, poking peter in the stomach pointedly. “I can’t help unless you tell me what’s up”. It’s not like Peter didn’t  _ want  _ to tell him. In fact, if he did, there was a possibility Tony could actually help him out. On the other hand,  he was  _ Tony _ . the definition of embarrassing parent. Not that he was his dad or anything, he just acted like it all the time. Worst case scenario he got mad at him for not saying anything sooner. Gathering his courage, Peter sucked in a breath and-

     “Hold on a sec, kiddo,” Tony said, pulling out his chiming phone and scanning the screen “damn. This heart to heart may have to wait.” Peter sat up on his elbows, trying to see whatever he was distracted by. 

     “Oh no you don’t, official Stark Industries business only “ The older man laughed, pushing Peter away. “I gotta go deal with that tour group, and right after we’ll head to the lab.” the teen stiffened “did you come up with any ideas of what to do with them? Pepper is handling most of it but she wanted me to talk to them a little and show them some things. I figured you would have a better grasp of what entertains people your age nowadays.” Peter gritted his teeth, preparing himself for the next part.

     “That’s the thing, Mr. Stark” He started, looking up at his rather concerned mentor. “the tour group is my class, and they don’t believe I have the internship anyways and if they know I live here they’ll treat me different and I just don’t want to deal with all that  _ especially _ Flash and-” Peter cut his ramble off, wincing, half expecting Tony to chew him out. But when he turned and opened his eyes, his face hadn’t changed at all, except-  _ crap. _ Without his usual sunglasses, Peter could see the mischief beginning to spark in his eyes. The corners of his mouth turned up into a tiny smirk and he pulled out his phone, sending off a rapid-fire text. Tony clapped Peter on the shoulder and said,

     “Don’t worry about it kid, I gotcha. We can go down soon, but I need you to run and grab your web bonding agent from Bruce.”

     Something didn’t feel right about the whole thing. “Uh, why does Dr. Banner have my web fluid?”

     He shrugged it off “I think he was seeing if it was stretchy enough for some hulk pants, he asked me so I let him borrow it.” Peter nodded slowly, it seemed fairly legit. “I’m gonna go change, just make sure you grab your suit, you don’t want to have to come all the way back up here to get it.” Tony finished, standing up off the bed. The billionaire stretched and sauntered out of the room. 

     That sealed the deal for Peter, there was no way he’d just have him walk around with his suit if there was a risk of people seeing. Even so, who knows what length that man would go to in order to embarrass him, so he slipped the suit on without the gloves and mask, tucking them into its hip pocket. The suit took care of the slight chill in the air, but he still put on some jeans, a nerd shirt, and flannel over it- just in case of an unwanted encounter in the halls. 

     Stark Tower had numerous elevators, but the only one with direct access to every floor was the Avenger’s personal elevator. It was also the most impressive, the missile-proof glass walls allowed riders to see some of the floors and labs as it ascended or descended. Not to mention how incredibly secure it was, if you somehow managed to run past the guards and get on without a legitimate badge, FRIDAY would shut it down if she didn’t recognize you. Usually, Peter enjoyed the trip down to Banner’s labs, he’d press his face against the glass and try to count the floors as they disappeared below him (Tony said he didn’t like it when he did that, but sometimes Peter saw him smiling in the reflection). But today he just felt on edge. He stood in the middle of the circular elevator, nervously glancing at the floors. His heart stopped every time a group of people flashed by, thinking they were his classmates.

     As the glass walls of Bruce’s lab came into view, Peter felt his stomach lurch. Standing with their backs to him, was the entirety of his chemistry class, listening in rapt attention as Bruce talked about what looked like his latest foray into biomechanics. For a second he stood there, terrified, before realizing the doors were about to open. He quickly leaped to the control panel, pressing a random floor repeatedly as if it would make it move faster. 

     The doors slid open with a loud chime. The Midtown students turned around to see one Peter Parker looking absolutely horrified, and still frantically hitting the buttons. Bruce, unperturbed by the interruption and oblivious of  Peter’s entrance walked into his office, still talking, to retrieve another example of his work. Effectively rendering Peter defenseless. 

     “What the hell is Parker doing here?” Someone said, breaking the silence. The doors still wouldn’t close. 

     “Ahem.” 

     Peter looked up from the panel to see Mr. Harrington and Mr. Everson staring down at him with the fury of a thousand suns. He could practically see steam coming out of their ears. Everson walked back to contain the class, while Harrington grabbed Peter roughly by the arm, dragging him out of the elevator. He pulled him over to the side, hand still squeezing his arm, and began quietly yelling at him.

     “I-I can explain Mr. Harrington! Just let me-“

 

" alt="Whoops" />

     “No! Peter, you can’t just  _ show up  _ to a field trip without being at school for a week with no note, no permission slip, and then try and  _ sneak off _ in one of the most heavily guarded places in the world!” Harrington was so close to exploding, possibly literally. Peter noticed with alarm that his death grip on his arm was riding the flannel up, exposing his suit and web shooter. Luckily he seemed to be entirely focused on his face.

     “If this weren’t an overnight trip and your aunt was reachable during these hours, you’d be on a bus home  _ right now.”  _ He seethed, Peter could feel his face reddening as the class gaped at him. 

     “ _ Sighhh,  _ I guess about all I can do is ruin this for you. You’re stuck with me the rest of the time. You won’t talk, you won’t participate, you stand in the back and sit everything out. And you aren’t leaving my sight. Once we get back we’re having a serious talk with principal Morita.” Harrington released Peter, rubbing his face tiredly while the teen quickly covered up his arm. Once it was concealed, Peter let out a small sigh of relief. The  _ last  _ thing he needed today was to be outed to his whole chemistry class. 

     He didn’t even get a chance to try and intercept Bruce, as Mr. Harrington forced him to wait around the corner in the hallway as he finished up the speech. Peter didn’t try to get around this, in case it backfired, since he was in enough trouble as it was. After thirty minutes of considering his options and cursing his own stupidity, he was summoned to the back of the class, that was now filing onto the smaller elevators. Luckily, he was able to get to Ned at the back, who looked about as concerned as Peter felt once he explained the predicament.

     “Dude, you just gotta tell him you’re supposed to be here!” Ned exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly as some of the other kids turned to look at them confusedly.

     “Ned, I’m screwed if I do that!” Peter argued “he doesn’t believe me, and the only way to convince him would be to get Mr. Stark involved. And then I’d  _ have  _ to tell him I live here, not to mention that  _ Mr. Stark will never let me live this down.”  _

     Ned put his hands, feigning surrender as the elevator began moving down. 

     “I still think you should tell him”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again a reminder I will not be posting/responding to comments/anything else tomorrow, but I will try to get two or more chapters out Sunday!!  
> Until then, thanks for reading!


	6. Gotta Pasta Time Somehow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ned gets some noodles, Peter attempts to receive help from an unlikely source, Flash makes his debut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH GOSH GUYS I"M SORRY THAT TOOK SO LONG SKSKSK  
> Yesterday was not as free as I thought it'd be :/  
> here's a short recap of my weekend/excuse:  
> Saturday-  
> -woke up at 5 for Mock trial  
> \- Won Sketch Artist first place (probably, the only other artist spent twelve hours drawing sTiCk FiGuReS)  
> -got home and slept at 12  
> Sunday-  
> -woke up at 7 for church  
> -someone straight up almost died,also at church  
> -found a bottle of Fanta tied to a tree at the DMV  
> -ate ten croissants at a fancy baby shower  
> -PASSED MY LICENSE TEST YEET  
> -watch B99 for two hours then fell asleep
> 
> But I'm back now and excited to share this chapter with you!   
> sorry for not knowing how to draw Ned sksks

     When they finally came to a stop, the doors opened to reveal the main cafeteria of the tower as the students flooded out of it. The huge space was reminiscent of a food court at a mall, with multiple small restaurants vending around the perimeter. Except this was bigger. And nicer. Some of the spots actually had indoor seating. For those that didn’t, an abundance of tables littered the middle of the room. The teachers attempted to shout instructions, but no one seemed to hear. Peter made a last-ditch effort to slink off when they weren’t looking, but Everson grabbed him by the collar and dragged him over to an Italian restaurant. Ned followed and the two sat at a table next to the adults. Harrington walked over and eyed them suspiciously 

     “You two have money for lunch?” 

     Ned pulled a twenty out of his wallet and looked expectantly at Peter, who realized fairly quickly that he did not have anything on him at all. His wallet was about 50 floors up, in his book bag. He couldn’t exactly say that though, so he waved it off and walked up to the register with Ned.

     “I know you don’t have money dude, and I’m perfectly willing to share, but why are you coming up here if you can’t order?” Ned asked, running his finger up and down the bill. 

     Peter shrugged “didn’t want to have to stare awkwardly at Everson’s head any longer than I needed to. Plus I figured I might as well look at the menu.” 

     The line was short, allowing Ned to thoroughly pore over the options and make a choice. A broad man with waning hair greeted them at the counter. He scribbled Ned's order on a sheet, only stopping to ask him “name?”

     “Uhh, Ned Leeds?”

     “Got it. Ok, your turn. Name?” The man asked, turning to Peter expectantly.

     “Oh, uh, sorry, I can’t make an order, I just walked up here with-“ he was cut off by the man waving his hand in his face.

     “I get it, kid. Ya didn’t bring any money. Done it enough times myself. Just don’t tell anyone about this. Now, give me your order and your name.” He said flatly, tapping the pen on his notepad. Peter had half a mind to decline, he didn’t need to take food when he wasn’t in need, but his stomach loudly reminded him that his metabolism would revolt pretty soon if he didn’t shove  _ something _ in his face.

     “Thank you, sir. I’m uh, Peter, Peter Parker, and I guess I’ll have a-“ the man once again cut him off, recognition flashing across his face. 

     “You’re Stark’s kid!”  He exclaimed, catching Peter and Ned entirely off guard.

     “I mean I guess I am,” Peter stammered “but how exactly do you know me if you don’t mind me asking?”

     He grinned, picking the notepad back up. “I work pretty late, and sometimes he’d come down here and pick up something, and I’d always ask him how his day had been. Just bein’ polite, ya know? Eventually, he started coming down earlier and telling me all about this kid he was hangin’ out with. Showing me pictures, talkin my damn ear off, it was hilarious. Same thing I did to my kids when they were small enough not to be embarrassed about it.” 

     Peter could not believe what he was hearing. It didn’t stop the warmth growing in his chest as the guy talked (and on his face when he saw Ned staring at him slack-jawed). Something clicked into place.

     “Wait, so _this_ is Fitz’s?” He asked, finally reading the sign above the menu “this place has the best Garlic Alfredo I’ve ever had. We get it every week!” The large man winked at him, writing Large Garlic Alfredo onto his sheet, along with his name. 

     “This one's really on the house. Him too. That guy” he said, gesturing at the roof “buys enough of my food to pay for my shop here and my rent. I kinda owe him for that.” 

     Peter nodded, smiling as he thanked him for everything. He and Ned made their way back to the table to chat and wait for their orders. Mr. Everson turned in his seat to face them, crossing his arms as he asked what took them so long.

     “Well, you see, Pet-“ Ned started before Peter pinched his arm.

     “We just couldn’t decide on something. That’s all” Peter smiled innocently. Everson looked between them before sighing and turning back to his table. He turned to see Ned grinning stupidly at him from across the table.

     “What?” He said, quirking a brow at his friend who seemed just about ready to go full looney on him.

     Ned stifled a laugh by coughing. “Dude, we just got free food because he thought Tony Stark is your  _ Dad” _

     The vigilante turned bright red, mouth moving soundlessly as he tried to find the right words “N-no! He just, just meant that, that he talks about me a lot, that’s all” But he couldn’t help the smile that was growing on his face as he thought about it more and more. 

     “The man is practically  _ adopting  _ you- _ ohmygosh my best friend is gonna be adopted by Tony Stark”  _ Ned gasped, giggling at his friend who currently had his head down on the table. His ears were a very deep shade of magenta.

     Not too long after, Peter was still very pink, Ned was still giggling, and they both had steaming hot plates of fresh pasta in front of them.

     The food was fantastic, Peter ate all of his and then Ned's leftovers when he had said he couldn’t possibly stomach another bite. They sat comfortably in silence for a bit, watching the people traffic in the cafeteria. The teen was beginning to seriously consider sleep when he picked up on an odd sound coming from beneath him. He ducked under the table, but the only thing there was an A/C floor grate. Leaning closer, he heard metallic groans, occasional thumps, and… did the grate just tell him to screw off in the most colorful terms possible? Peter sat up, double checking that no one had seen him, and whispered to the grate, 

     “men’s bathroom, 20 feet ahead on your right” to which the grate replied, 

     “Yeah, I know where the damn bathroom is”

     Seeing that Ned was actually asleep now, Peter leaned over and asked Mr. Harrington if he could run to the bathroom. He agreed, but insisted on waiting outside, lest Peter attempt to run off again. As soon as he was inside, he locked himself in the largest of the six stalls and rapped on the large grate set into the wall. 

     “Clint! I know you’re in there!” he hissed, trying not to alert Harrington. He was met by muffled curses as the archer dragged himself around a corner and to the grate. 

     “ ‘Sup nerd” He cooed, Peter couldn’t actually see his face through the slats but he knew his grin stretched from ear to ear. “having fun on your field trip?”

     Peter grimaced “look, can you tell Mr. Stark where I am? And what’s going on?” 

     “Peter? What’s that noise, are you ok?” said a muffled Mr. Harrington from outside.

     “Ok, how about I pull this vent off and you help me get away. I just want to be out of here as fast as possible.” He pleaded, the desperation growing in his voice. A fleshy  _ whack _ came from the vent, which Peter could only assume was Clint’s hand hitting his forehead.

     “Listen, Peter, I’d love to help, really, I would, but these vents are pretty tight. As you can tell just getting down here was miserable.” He paused “and I do  _ not _ want to be the one responsible for telling Tony that you got lost or stuck in here.”

     “Aw, come on, Clint, you know I’m like half your weight” 

     “Ow”

     “ And I can hold my own! It couldn’t be that difficult with the Great Hawkeye guiding me!” Peter begged, laying on the honey. Clint was a sucker for brown-nosing, so it could hopefully get him a ticket out of there. Peter waited with bated breath, eyes fixed on the grate, for what seemed like an eternity. At last, he could hear Clint suck in a deep breath.

     “ I’m sorry, Peter,” The slats said softly. there was something distant about the voice. “The vents can be dangerous to those who are not enlightened.” It was a little concerning, to be honest until he heard a villainous chuckle “Plus, it’s funny to watch you squirm.” Peter could hear Clint dragging himself away forlornly, and could only wonder what the hell that was supposed to mean. A second later, his face crinkled as a blast of cold air hit him directly from the vents. And just moments after that there was a yelp and chorus of “ _ those little ***** turned on the mother****ing A/C! _ ”, followed by intense scurrying in the opposite direction.  And so Hawkeye was gone, just slightly quicker than he came.

     Peter pushed open the bathroom door just as Mr. Harrington opened his mouth to call for him again.

     “Jeez Peter, what took you so long?” Mr. Harrington asked, walking behind him back to Fitz’s. When the teen didn’t answer, he rolled his eyes and turned away. 

     “By the way, you may want to wake Ned up. We’re about to gather everyone and head for the museum.” The teacher said, scanning the cafeteria for the other students. Peter nudged Ned, gently poking him until he was awake (and continuing until he was mildly annoyed) and noticed Mr. Everson was already walking through the cafeteria, rounding up the students who hadn’t gotten the memo that lunch was over. Harrington steered them towards the elevators once again, herding them on until half the class was boarded. The doors closed, the buttons dinged, and the elevator began moving upwards. 

     Of course, Peter ended up in the back directly next to Flash. He poked Ned, gesturing to the other boy, whose back was turned to them. Fortunately for them, he seemed to be deep in conversation with a few of his cronies. Unfortunately for them, his cronies were not deep in conversation with him. One of them locked eyes with Peter and nodded to him, a nasty grin on his face. Flash took this as his cue to turn around and say as loudly and dramatically as possible, 

     “Well, if it isn’t penis?” he crowed, smirking as if he just won every award a human could receive. The pair rolled their eyes at the name, at this point it was more of a testament to how unoriginal Flash was than an actual insult. 

     “Not gonna lie, for a second there I thought that maybe you were able to guilt trip your way into spending a night in a broom closet here, and honestly, I could respect the dedication that comes with that.” Flash said, leering as his goons chuckled ominously “but I realize that’s not pathetic enough for you, so it’s gotta be something else.” 

     Ned stepped forward.” come on, Flash. Don’t you have something better to do, like, I don’t know, kick puppies? Knock ice cream cones out of little kid’s hands? ‘Cause that’d be pretty on brand for you.” This seemed to catch Flash off guard, considering how fast his expression switched from gleeful violence to violent violence.

     “I’d watch your mouth if I were you, fatass,” Flash growled, then stepped threateningly towards Peter “wow, you really are pathetic if you need your little, _ sorry, _ not so little friends to stick up for you.” He looked at his henchmen. “Betcha I could do  _ this”  _ Peter grunts as Flash pushes him into the wall of the elevator “and he wouldn’t even lift a finger.” He laughs, obviously satisfied with his quick thinking. Peter noticed their fellow passengers, apart from flash and the three or so people who could stand him, were beginning to grow restless as the tension rose with the floors. Only ten more floors before they were there.A rare spark of confidence spurring him to act. He grinned at Flash, mimicking his step forward. The other teen’s smile faltered as he stepped back.

 

" alt="SisterSnapped" />

_ 4 floors _

     “You know, Flash,” Peter said, clenching his fists by his side,” you really should be more careful” 

_ 3 floors _

     “You’ll never get back onto the decathlon team” 

_ 2 floors _

_      “ _ if you keep running your mouth like that”

_ 1 floor _

     “ ‘Cause it’ll be too sore to suck all that-”

* _ ding*  _

     In the elevator, someone whispered “oh tea”

     Flash, looking redder than a fire truck started towards Peter, obviously out for blood, but was cut off by the elevator opening and Mr. Harrington and Mr. Everson going over roll call.

     “I’m gonna beat your ass, Penis.” he seethed, stomping off with his minions who were, to their credit, doing a spectacular job at not laughing. 

     Peter looked over at Ned, who was at a complete loss for words. Ned looked at Peter. Peter looked at Ned. one of them snorted, and they both burst into a fit of laughter. The vigilante had to drag Ned out of the elevator so they wouldn’t get yelled at for straggling. As they regained their composure, Mr. Everson walked over to them. 

     “Changing of the guards, Peter. I’m taking over for Harrington. Which means you’re with me.” He wearily explained. “You’re free to come, Ned, just don’t cause any trouble.”

     Peter looked over to where the rest of the class was congregating around a lone tour guide who looked positively overwhelmed.  _ I’m fine with this,  _ he thought as he and Ned began to follow the teacher through the museum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy Howdy was that a ride  
> I love the idea of Peter just Snapping and going off on Flash oof  
> but he's still a Dumb Idiot so it wouldn't last too long sadly :(  
> Hope you guys enjoyed, as always feel free to leave critiques or anything you want in the comments below!! ^-^


	7. The Three Musketeers, If They Were A Nerd, An Artist, And A Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Ned get jump scared, Peter almost cries over a museum, and a historic relic pays them a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaa  
>  that's the mood for today  
> anyway here's chapter 7, it took me like half an hour to come up with the name for some reason?? idk my brain doesn't work rn.  
> I'm gonna gush a bit in the endnotes bc I just got some cool news, so just ignore that.  
> enjoy the chapter!!

     The museum wasn’t, well,  _ technically  _ a museum. For a long while it was a collection of Avengers paraphernalia and various items they collected over the years haphazardly thrown together behind ropes and in acrylic boxes in no particular form or fashion. That is until an incident involving a drunk guy, some old broken iron man armor, and one of Natasha’s catsuits (hey, he got it on there, I’m not taking it off -Tony Stark) forced them to pack everything up. And in storage, it all remained, through the civil war and a whole year of legal battles and reconciliation. Until Tony found the storage room, deemed it all “too cool to throw away” and sat down with Bruce, Steve, and Peter to design a history-buff worthy collection of artifacts and just plain stuff. After a few months of work, and a couple million dollars worth of construction and bulletproof glass it was complete. In fact, the grand opening had only been three weeks ago. And in Peter’s professional opinion, it was the coolest museum ever.

     It took up two floors, with the first full of broken alien tech, pieces of enemies weapons, and a detailed chronological record of the Avenger’s battles since the first ironman suit. It mainly went around the perimeter of the rectangular space, with a large central foyer and escalators that opened up to the second floor. This floor was an open square balcony, with clear guardrails around the opening to the first floor. The main topic was the Avengers themselves, starting with a large, interactive hologram of the Stark Towers and the compound, as well as (limited) information about how they were built and maintained. To it’s right was the first Avengers display, Cap, and went all the way around the wall to end at Spiderman. Each case contained replicas of their weapons and suits, even some older authentic ones, information on the heroes and their stories if they were willing to disclose it, and records of their battles and appearances. Except for Black Widow. Nat’s was just a suit, a knife, and plaque that read: Black Widow; Scary assassin. The entire space was lit by a massive skylight that made everything feel light and airy. And Peter loved it to death.

     He and Ned walked a careful distance behind Everson, who was perusing the chitauri staffs. Close enough to be accounted for, but far enough away that their unsuspecting teacher wouldn’t accidentally overhear any confidential avengers information. Peter was regaling Ned with the tale of the Drunk Ironman Catsuit Fiasco when someone whispered in his ear,

     “Careful, spidey.”

     If Ned had not grabbed on to his shirt sleeve in shock as soon as they were jump scared, half the class would have turned around to see Peter Parker clinging to the ceiling of the museum. Luckily, the only thing he had to worry about was the very loud noise he made when he jumped. 

     “Wow, Peter, you scream like a small child” the perpetrator quipped, whacking the back of their heads with a book. Peter spun around to see a familiar, perpetually smug face standing in front of him.

     “MJ!” He exclaimed, pulling her into a hug as Ned got himself together. 

     “Man, I completely forgot you were on this trip. Where have you been?” Ned asked, gesticulating wildly as he spoke.

     Michelle shrugged nonchalantly “The second bus ran behind, so our half started late.”

     “Then how are you here with us if you’re supposed to be behind?’ Peter queried, rubbing his chin and looking off into space as if faced with an impossible riddle.

     “The elevator, stupid “ she responded with a grin “my teachers won’t even notice I’m gone.” 

     Peter rolled his eyes dramatically “of course  _ you  _ don’t get caught.” He said.

     MJ raised her eyebrows questioningly at him and glanced at Everson.

      “Yeah, you two have got to tell me how you managed to end up stuck with the phone gremlin” She poked Peter in the nose accusingly with her pencil “especially when  _ you _ weren’t supposed to be here. Wait, let me guess, that’s exactly why he’s got you on a child leash.”

     Ned choked back a laugh, and Peter elbowed him in the arm. “Pretty much. Mr. Stark sent me to pick something up from Bruce- uh, Dr. Banner, and I ran into the class. Before I could get outta there, Mr. Harrington and Everson had snatched me.” He shrugged “I honestly can’t tell whether Mr. Stark intended for me to get caught or not. The worst part is that I’m gonna have to go all day with my suit on under my clothes, trying to get out of this.” MJ nodded solemnly, and Ned gaped at him.

     “You have your suit?” He said through his teeth, looking around nervously “ what if someone sees it?” Peter sighed, nervously scratching his neck.

     “ Guess I’m just gonna have to hope no one does. Mr. Harrington almost did when he grabbed my arm.” He said, pulling up his shirt slightly to show the red material. He shoved it back down when Mr. Everson cleared his throat loudly behind them. 

     “I’m moving on. You two, well, three, I guess, can’t just wait for me to leave and get out of this.” He said sharply. The trio nodded quickly and trailed behind him as he walked through the exhibit. 

     “I suppose we might as well enjoy ourselves while we’re here.” Mj mused “lead the way, Spidey.”

     They read through the displays as they walked, listening as Peter filled them in on the details not available on the plaques. It didn’t take long for them to be laughing and talking as if nothing was wrong, only pausing when Everson got too close for comfort. But soon enough he’d move on, and the three would resume their adventure through the displays. And if Mr. Everson overheard Peter telling them about certain battles in far more detail than he should know, he didn’t say anything about it.

     Eventually, they made their way up to the second floor. Everson begrudgingly allowed them to without him, since there was no way they could leave while up there, and he was too engrossed in the history of the Battle of New York/ The Incident to deal with them. Once free, the trio ran up the escalator, skipping the Stark Tower hologram for the Captain America exhibit. Each hero had a large glass display case, accompanied by a short hallway that fed into a larger room. Some of the rooms belonging to the newer supers were still blocked off, their display case big enough to fit their accomplishments so far on its own. So far, only Stark, Rogers, Thor, and Bruce had rooms. 

     The Cap exhibit was cool, and chock full of World War Two artifacts, some of them pertaining to the war itself instead of Rogers. Mr. Stark had not been able to get the first Captain America suit from the Smithsonian but made up for it with every suit that came after, as well as a replica that was as close to perfect as you can get. A screen played a documentary with an authentic video of Cap in battle, and a second one played the PSAs on repeat across the room. Peter beamed as he described everything in the room, many of which he helped recover, especially the PSAs, which Tony had been unaware of. Steve hadn’t spoken to either of them for a week after that, he recalled, but it was worth it for the smile on Tony’s face for the entirety of it. A closed door on the far side of the room would lead to the Winter Soldier’s exhibit when it was finished.

     Slowly they made their way through the rest of the heroes, Mj sketching things as she went, Ned drooling over the huge collection of suits in the IronMan room, and Peter proudly guiding them through everything. They started to draw near the end, and Peter was almost done explaining Clint’s prank that led to them only having three things for the Black widow display when MJ interrupted him.

     “Huh, last time I was here your display room was still closed.” She said dryly, gesturing at the next case. Peter briskly walked over, noting that the actual exterior display had not been touched, and looked confusedly at the open hallway. 

     “Mr. Stark said he was working on it, but he never said it was finished.” He muttered, stepping through the doorway into the hall, and then into the room. It definitely wasn’t perfect, but it was far from incomplete. A glass case, similar to the one in the Ironman exhibit displayed his original suit (how did he even get it?) complete with its rips and burns from his fight against the Vulture. Next to it was another replica of his suit and the iron spider, with information on each. A slanted table screen showed potential future designs you could flip through, many of which he had done himself. A few people from his class strolled around, scrolling through the official Spiderman Instagram he had made, or reading the plaques describing the hero and what he stood for. Ned and MJ looked on in awe (or as close to it as MJ could get) at everything displayed on the walls. Peter could feel himself almost tearing up, and forced the tears back. Getting emotional at his exhibit was a bad idea.

 

" alt="Cool" />

     After looking through everything for a bit, Ned pushing him for a detailed explanation of every single thing, they made their way to the scarcer end of the collection. There were only a few things hanging on the walls here, including one of Peter’s favorite parts of all the exhibits; A list personally compiled by Mr. Stark of stupid random facts about each hero.some of these included Thor’s Pop Tart affinity, Strange’s inability to say the word “penguin”, and the fact that Scott cried every single time he watched Up. And sitting on a bench right across from Peter’s list was one Steve Rogers, who was smiling faintly as he read the list, and one Sam Wilson, who was decidedly asleep with his head against the wall. Sam was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, while Steve, ever the disguise master, wore a hoodie pulled up over his baseball cap and sunglasses. Peter could almost cry when he saw them, at least they could get him out of this mess. 

     Ned and MJ in tow, he sidled up to the two as inconspicuous as possible, elbowing Steve in the shoulder, who jumped and knocked into Sam, waking him up with a jolt.

     “Jesus, Rogers.” Sam grimaced, rubbing his head where it had leaned on the wall.

     The Captain grinned sheepishly, quietly apologizing before scooting over on the bench to make room for Peter to sit.

     He turned to the boy and smiled, raising an eyebrow “I didn’t know you were scared of spiders” he teased, causing Ned and MJ to stifle a laugh. Peter frowned.

     “I’m gonna kill Mr. Stark for this,” he said, feeling a tinge of betrayal at the bemused faces of his friends. “What, I’d like to see  _ you  _ get bit by a spider, become seriously ill, and not come out of it with some kinda mental scarring.”. This only made them smile wider. The teen rolled his eyes, turning back to Cap.

     “What are you doing down here anyways?”  he asked, lowering his voice.

     Rogers leaned back on the bench “I could ask you the same thing, Peter. Clint filled me in on the situation a while ago, and I figured I’d come to check up on you. Plus, Sam still hadn’t seen the museum.” Sam scoffed next to him.

     “Didn’t think I needed to.” Steve shot him a look.

     “So you’ve heard. Could you help me out here?” Peter pleaded “Just, take me with you when you leave, I’d like to be anywhere else than here right now.”

     His heart sunk at the pitying look Steve and Sam gave him. 

     “Peter, if you don’t want Tony helping you out you certainly don’t want us,” Sam said softly “it’d be pretty obvious you do more than just intern here if we busted you out”.

     “Not to mention that we can’t just sneak you out. Your teachers would notice, and I don’t think any of us want to have to explain why two avengers snuck you out of a field trip you aren’t even on.” Rogers continued, looking more and more anxious the longer they talked.” and I hate to say it, but we’re trying to be incognito at the moment.”

     “Yo, is that Captain America?” Someone in the exhibit said, causing Steve and Sam to wince. 

     “I guess that’s our cue.” The super soldier said wearily, as they stood to leave.

     Peter jumped up, flailing for a solution “Just, please tell Mr. Stark. He can figure something out, and maybe I’ll get lucky and he won’t absolutely ruin me.” He exclaimed, looking back and forth between the two frantically.

     Sam sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. “We’re going to tell him, it’ll just be a while. After you, uh, disappeared, he got sucked into another meeting.” he shrugged “who knows how long it’ll be until he’s out.”

     Steve patted him on the shoulder as he walked past “sorry, son. See you for dinner tonight?” the vigilante smiled weakly.

     “If I ever see you again, maybe.” Sam snickered and followed the captain, who nodded to Peter’s friends.

     “Miss, Ned.” He said before hastily leaving the room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter!!  
> the next will be out tomorrow, and I may be stuck uploading one a day unless my chemistry teacher decides to stop being horrid, so oof  
> also  
> MY MOCK TRIAL TEAM IS GOING TO STATE!!!  
> this is a huge deal bc my school's only been open 4 years, so all the originals are seniors, this is their last year, and the peer who started the team here has been wanting to go forever! it's just big for all of us. And they asked me to come, even though there's no formal sketch artist position (aka any reason at all for me to be there) at State competition, so my heart is currently full of all my uwus.   
> I'm just very happy rn and I can't wait for the competition!! and it's overnight!! ah!  
> anyways, feel free to comment below and let me know what you think!


	8. STREET SMARTS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is betrayed, twice, Flash gets Oofed, and Midtown High learns self-defense...kinda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! Today was kinda wild lol  
> There may also be a few spelling mistakes in this chapter since my computer decided it was too long and won't let me edit it? just ignore them of you see them lmao.  
> Thank you all so so much for the feedback and well wishes! It means a ton to be able to interact with you and occasionally share some of the dumb stuff that happens outside of this website ^-^  
> enjoy the chapter!

     Ned could not stop smiling as they left the museum. This was mostly because Captain America knew his name. 

     “C’mon, Ned, of course he does. You’ve met him, like, five times already.” Peter joked, poking his friend as they rode down the escalator. The trio had stayed in the spiderman exhibit until Mr. Everson found them, letting them know that it was time for the class to move on to the next stop. They reached the end, stepping off and walking slowly towards the elevators where the class was congregating. 

     “Well, yeah, but he’s still the coolest  _ ever _ .” Ned retorted, poking him back.

     “You have said that about literally every Avenger you’ve met,” MJ said, not looking up from her sketch as she walked beside them. “Also, I thought Peter was your favorite,” 

     They laughed, Peter shushing her as he feigned betrayal “yeah, what gives Ned? Are you leaving me for Captain America?”

     “Oh,  _ shut up,  _ Parker.” he countered “you’re still my favorite, but I never said you were the coolest.”

     “ _ Wow,  _ dude. That really stung.” Peter wiped a mock tear from his eye “I doubt I’ll ever recover.”

     “As entertaining as this is, you two better shut up before someone hears.” Mj interrupted as they approached the students who were still waiting to get on the elevators. Luckily, Flash and co. were nowhere to be found, and ride upwards went as smoothly as it could with fifteen teenagers, one teacher, and a perpetually stressed tour guide all packed together. 

     “Y’know, I kinda forgot to ask where you’ve been already”. Peter whispered to his friends.

     “ That’s a question for Ned, I think” Mj replied, more focused on her pencil than her surroundings.

     “Uh, well, you saw us in the lobby, then we went to the rooms we’d be sleeping in, then the Research and Development labs, and then the Bio labs, where you found us.” He listed on his fingers “no idea where we’re going now.” Peter nodded, considering the various areas of the tower that they’d let high schoolers in. There… weren’t a ton, at least that he could think of.

     “Where exactly are we sleeping?” He asked, “I might as well know since I’ll probably end up in there with you.” 

     “Yeah, right. Like Tony Stark will let you sleep on the floor with us commoners” Ned scoffed, rolling his eyes at Peter’s sullen expression “ seriously, you’ll be outta here way before then. Leaving poor me and MJ allll alone” Now it was Ned’s turn to fake tearing up “but, if you must know, we’re in some cleared out conferences rooms on the twenty-eighth floor. Apparently, the actual hotel floor is filled up. You better have a sleeping bag somewhere in this tower, or you’re gonna have a bad night.”

     The vigilante sighed, leaning his head against the back of the elevator. It was almost 5 pm, hopefully, they would go down to the rooms soon, at least with the teachers spread so thin he could make a break for it. But the elevator, sadly, seemed to be going up. which was odd, actually. The museum had been on floor 58, but everything above that was just office space, conference rooms, and the small hotel. Nothing interesting or noteworthy for a tour. Then, as the numbers dinged on seventy and the doors opened to a regular hallway, where the rest of the class was waiting, it dawned on him.  _ Only the public access elevators didn’t go past seventy. _

     “Alright, everybody, we have some very special treats for you today!” the Tour guide’s sing-song voice rang out, silencing the majority of the waiting students. Peter had seen her before, she was an intern in some of the lower-level R&D labs. She was also, apparently, good at getting kids to shut up. He noticed she was had two badges, a regular blue intern one, and a sleek clear and gold one that she fidgeted with between her fingers. He recognized it, there was one exactly like it on his school lanyard. 

     “First of all, I’d like to let you all know that you are not allowed to have your phones or any recording devices at all out during the next two parts of the tour “She began, holding out a ziploc bag “please put any such devices you may have in here, so we can continue without anyone getting into trouble.” Students started begrudgingly placing their phones in, one by one. When she was satisfied that any illicit tech had been confiscated, the guide shut the bag and held it behind her. 

     “Second, I am being serious when I say this is a privilege. We don’t usually let tours up this far, let alone to our next few surprise stops, so any bad behavior can and will get you immediately removed from the tour. So, please be good, don’t touch anything, and don’t take any photos.” She turned on her heel, walking briskly to the big elevator, and pressed the clear card on the touchpad. It beeped in response, and the gold doors slid open to reveal the glass elevator as FRIDAY chimed.

     “ Temporary Alpha clearance: Katie Shielding. Welcome.”

     “Crap” Peter muttered under his breath. He knew exactly what was going to happen as the students began filing on. Maybe if he stayed far enough towards the back, he wouldn’t be noticed. Of course, he knew the AI was too smart to be tricked by something as stupid as hiding, but he had to try right? 

     Peter walked between Ned and Mj onto the elevator. Being the last ones on, they were stuck at the front. He probably should have thought that one through. The doors closed, and the glass case began to move up through the tower without a sound, drawings gasps from those who had not been on it before. Peter let out a small sigh of relief, it seemed FRIDAY hadn’t decided to out him as a resident to the entire class. 

     Of course, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, a robotic female voice suddenly spoke over the speakers, causing half the class to jump.

     “Good evening, Peter. Should I alert Mr Stark that you are on your way up?”

      He really wished he could shrink like Scott right now.

     “ uh, no, it’s fine FRIDAY.” he mumbled, painfully aware of his classmates staring at him  “I’m… not going to the lab...right..now”.

     “Very well.” FRIDAY said. 

     The ride for the next few floors was uncomfortably silent. No one seemed to know what to do with the exchange, let alone Peter Parker himself. He was almost happy when it finally came to a stop at floor 86, ready for everyone's attention to be on something other than him. At least until he remembered that this was the training floor. But he shouldn’t have anything to worry about, it was fairly out of date, and all the training happened at the compound anyways. And even if someone was in there, his class would only be in the viewing area, safe from any thrown projectiles and avengers that were probably dedicated to making his life hell. 

     Well, he did have one thing to worry about, now that he was out of earshot of the teachers.

     “Some stunt you pulled back there, penis.” Flash snarled from behind him. Clearly he wasn’t over their earlier altercation.

      “What stunt?” Peter responded, there was no use kicking the hornet's nest now when he was so close to freedom. The last thing he wanted was a black eye and more trouble, likely in the form of a very unhappy group of superheroes.

      “You know exactly what I’m talking about.” the taller teen snapped, gesturing to the elevator “Now tell me, penis, how much did ya have to pay for that one?”

     Ah screw it. “What is it, Flash?” he shot back, the fierce tone of his voice catching the other boy off guard “am I so broke I have to sleep in a broom closet, or am I rich enough to pay off a billionaire?” 

     Flash’s face contorted in anger, and he pointed a finger accusingly in Peter’s face “you may think you’re clever, penis, doing all of  _ this  _ “ He waved his arm at nothing. Or at everything? Peter didn’t know. “But at the end of the day, your stupid tricks haven’t fooled anyone. Sure haven’t fooled me. Soon enough, people are gonna remember you’re still just dumb little penis parker.” Then he stormed off down the hall to the viewing area. 

     “That was intense.” Mj deadpanned. Peter jumped and spun around. She was standing a little ways behind him, holding her book and pencil under her arm.

     “Jeez, Mj, you gotta stop doing that to me.” He didn’t know if his heart could take it, honestly.”why are you still back here? Even Ned’s already in the room.”

      She paused, tapping her chin and looking into the air as if the answer was written on the ceiling. “Eh, just wanted to make sure you didn’t get beat up.” She said, before stepping around him and walking off. Peter shook his head, jogging to catch up with her. Mj was weird, but so were he and Ned. it’s probably why they all got along so well. Except Mj was also kinda cool, and funny, smart,  _ pretty- Nope. No, you know what, he’s not gonna pull on that thread.  _

      They rounded the corner that led to the viewing area, and Peter had to pinch himself to prevent a scream. Of course this would happen. Everything always happened to him. Their classmates stood in awe, watching as Black Widow sparred viciously with Captain America and The Winter Soldier. The redhead deftly wove between their punches, dodging even the most unpredictable attacks, and getting in some punches of her own.

     It was fascinating, and at first glance she almost appeared to be dancing. Until you took a second glance and realized she was a trained assassin who had dozens if not hundreds of murders under her belt, and the dance was indeed a deadly one. But, as skilled as she was, she was still a regular human up against two super soldiers, and after a few minutes of graceful combat, her movements were becoming more sluggish, her pauses longer. 

     Peter picked up the faint sound of wrenching metal, and watched in morbid fascination as a vent cover above the massive training room opened and Hawkeye, complete in full battle garb, no longer clad in Iron man boxers (at least on the outside) dropped from the ceiling directly onto Cap, who stumbled and rolled with the archer still on his shoulders.No longer outnumbered, Black widow was able to pin The Soldier to the mat, counting to three before releasing him with a victorious flourish. Meanwhile, Cap tried his best to remove Hawkeye from his shoulders as the archer clung to him, no doubt hurling obscenities as they stumbled around the mat. A well-placed fist managed to shake him loose, and the captain tossed him to the ground. He grinned and shook hands with the Widow before the two helped their teammates up.

     The four walked over to some benches on the side of the room, Bucky pulling his sweatshirt over his head, Clint leaning against the wall, Steve unwrapping his hands, and Natasha pulling quite a few knives off her person. Peter could see the concern on Steve’s face when he saw he removing them, as if he was asking her, “why now?”. Answering his question, she gestured nonchalantly to the window. The other three looked up and froze at the sight of thirty odd starstruck teens staring back.

      Natasha slunk over to the door that separated the viewing room from the training room, opening it and peeking her head inside. 

     “You are all welcome to join us out here” She smiled, holding the door as the students flooded out of it.

     The viewing room was small and rectangular, with one large window to observe, and a door that blended into the concrete if you didn’t look hard enough. The training room, on the other hand, was a massive white space , entirely open apart from four red support columns in the middle. Multiple areas of the floor were covered in red mats for sparring, with similar red mats along the bottom of the wall. It also had an area for weightlifting, an obstacle course, and ceiling parkour. That was Peter’s favorite.

     The students of Midtown high lined up awkwardly along the outside of the viewing area, trying (and failing) not to gape at the three superheroes cooling down nearby. Not Natasha, though. She stood in front of them, feet planted and arms crossed, looking just as intimidating in sweatpants and a tank top as she did in leather with a gun. Her calculating gaze passed over each of them in turn, seeming to read them. As if she could tell their entire life story from a glance. When her eyes met Peter’s her lips twitched upwards into a half smirk. That could not be good.

     “Hey cap,” She called over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off the boy.”how do you feel about another demonstration.”

     The super soldier groaned, picking up his hand wraps and walking over to where she stood. “Look Nat, I’m down, but you’ll have to give me a minute, I mean I just finished cooling down.” Peter almost laughed at how petulant he sounded, like a kid who wanted more time on a swing. But it seems Natasha beat him to the punch.

     “Don’t sound so whiny, Steve,” She said teasingly eliciting a frown from the older man “I just need you to do some of the talking.”

     Rogers rolled his eyes “ don’t tell me you intend on beating up some teenager.” He glanced at Peter “or anyone else.”

     “Stop worrying, Steve,” She smirked, adjusting her position to be more relaxed. It was scary, how she could do that, and still be more tightly wound than a spring “It’s nothing the waiver won’t handle.” She turned to wink at Steve. Steve sighed and dragged a hand down his face.

     “Ok, fine. But I’m not helping if you get sued.” He said, exasperated.

     "What help would you be anyways?” She retorted, a slightly raised eyebrow the only change in her expression. He threw his hands up in the air and walked away in response.

     “Shall we begin, then?” Natasha began “who of you would like a lesson in self defense?”

     Every hand was up, even Mj’s, Peter noted. Nat’s steely eyes floated over the group and landed on Peter.  _ No no no no, please not me _ he said inwardly, shaking his head when her head suddenly snapped the other way.

     “You. come here.” She said flatly, pointing to someone Peter couldn’t quite see. Then Flash stepped forwards onto the mat, shoes and jacket already off, the smuggest look on his face. She stepped onto the mat with him, resting her hand on his shoulder. Flash looked about ready to explode. Steve watched from the sidelines, ready to step in if he thought she was about to cross a line. 

     Nat started by going over some defense basics. Blocking, avoiding, swinging, kicking. Things she had drilled repeatedly into Peter’s head when they first started training together. He had to admit it was boring standing on the sidelines, but it was better than being the center of attention right now. Plus, it was kinda fun to watch Flash flail to block hits and get them in. Obviously, she was pulling her punches, but it was still a little satisfying. 

     After fifteen minutes or so of instruction, Flash blocked a kick aimed at him, and Natasha made a small noise of approval. She turned towards the class and clapped her hands together before looking to Steve, who was preoccupied with his phone.

     “Do you think you all are ready for a real sparring match?” She asked, as the teens cheered and clapped. Maybe Peter wasn’t the only one who wanted to see Flash get his ass handed to him. Natasha faced Flash, putting her fists up and planting her feet.He mimicked her, poorly. But the cocky grin plastered on his face revealed that he hadn’t learned anything at all.

     “Now make sure you remember,” She commanded, beginning to slowly move around her opponent “to never let down your defense. You must always be ready”. Natasha lunged forwards, not even giving Flash the chance to put his fists up before she had swept his leg and he was on the ground, ready to be hogtied. The students cheered, ever excited to see someone fail, as Flash slowly stood up and made his way back to the group, trying his best to hide his wounded pride. Peter heard someone in the crowd whisper,

     "You think she'll start telling us about money clips next?"

     “Now, let’s have one more volunteer” Natasha smiled, not even bothering to fake look around  before she was locked onto Peter. He looked at the ground as she walked up to him, grabbing his arm and half dragging him to the mat. Oh well. As long as he was useless and let her get her hits in, she might just let him go back to being invisible.

     “Let me hit you and we will spar until you pass out every day for the next month” She hissed in his ear. There goes that plan. He slipped off his shoes and stepped onto the red mat.

     “Nice socks, Parker!” He heard Flash jeer from the sidelines. Oh yeah. He was wearing the suit. Peter mentally cursed himself, he would’ve taken off his flannel next, what then? He was broken out of his thoughts by Natasha squaring up a few feet away from him.

     “Uh, shouldn’t he be getting lessons first?” someone piped up. Nat scoffed.

     “He has done this before!” She responded. It took all of Peter’s willpower not to slap himself in the face. He might as well just whip out the mask and call it a day. 

     “Are you ready, Peter?” She coaxed, it was more of a statement than a warning.

     “Aye Aye, captain” He mumbled offhandedly, earning a few giggles from his classmates.    Suddenly, Natasha lunged, and his senses alerted him to the fist coming directly towards his jaw. He blocked it perfectly, twisting around so he had traded places with the assassin. She smiled at him with a hint of pride, but her grin turned predatory and she had leaped again, kicking at his legs before he jumped over them, careful to stay within human limits, and the two became locked in a lightning-paced battle of blows and blocks. Peter forgot all about his friends and peers watching, he was lost in the thrill of the fight. he ducked to tackle her around her middle, forcing them both to the mat, but before he could pin her she flipped him around and sat on his back.

" alt="throw em of their rythmn" />

     They were both breathing heavily, but she helped him up and patted his shoulder. Nat’s face was as close to beaming as she’d let it get, and though he seemed fairly displeased with her, Steve clapped him heartily on the back.

     “Nice work, kid.” Cap grinned, winking at him, before lightly punching Natasha in the shoulder. She said something to him in russian before turning to face the students as he walked back. Peter took his place between Mj and Ned as he leaned on the window to catch his breath and wipe his face.

     “Wow, Peter. You just got beat up by the Black Widow. In front of our whole class” Ned breathed, as if he couldn’t take in the scale of what had just happened.

     “ It’s usually worse.” He admitted “sometimes she won’t let me stop until I’ve pinned her. Which takes… quite a while.”

     “ I can’t believe you just said  _ usually _ when talking about training with the Avengers” Ned snorted.

     Steve and Natasha finished answering questions, and soon the tour guide was leading the lot of them back into the observation room. Peter was about to follow when he noticed something was off.

     “hey Ned, where’d Mj go? She was here like a second ago?” he asked, but his friend seemed too preoccupied with chatting with the other students to care. Peter walked over to where Nat, Steve, and Bucky (Clint had long since retreated to the vents) stood talking. 

     “Any news on my immediate release?” He said dryly, looking expectantly at the three.

     Steve scratched his beard thoughtfully “Yeah, Tony should be out of that meeting any second now, and a soon as he is FRIDAY’s gonna let him know what’s going on.”

     Bucky chimed in “until then, you’re still stuck with them, kid.sorry.”

     “Then why’d you have me do all of that just then?” Peter demanded, a little annoyed at the anger in his voice. He kinda felt like he deserved a break though, all things considered. “I mean, what if it exposed my, small arachnid related problem?”

     “You know full well I would’ve had you planted on that mat in a heartbeat if you got too into it “Natasha answered, spinning a knife she’d been cleaning in the light. “plus, It’s fun.” She said plainly before standing and pointing the knife directly at him. “And you tell us if you have any more problems with that Flash boy.”

     Peter put his hands up defensively “yeah, you bet, I got it, yeah” Steve frowned at him, putting on his best PSA voice.

     “We mean it kid. Bullying can be seriously harmful.”

     “And I mean it when I say I have it under control. It’s all good.” Peter said.

     “Nah, he doesn’t have it under control.” A voice came from behind him, and suddenly Steve had a child on top of him.

     “MJ!” Peter half-yelled. “I  _ told  _ you to stop doing that!” He could feel his face reddening.

     “Doing what?” She responded. “Also, you’re on top of Captain America.”

     Peter looked down at Steve, who had the most  _ horrible  _ look on his face, the kind of face you make when someone accidentally lets slip an embarrassing secret, or gets scared and jumps on top of you. He quickly released him, hopping down to the ground next to Mj. 

     “What do you even mean by that? He asked, folding his arms.

      “ I just mean that Flash is always giving you a hard time and you never do anything “ She shrugged “you say you can handle it but that’ll mess you up mentally.”

     “Thank you, Mj. you seem to be a bright young woman.” Steve extended his hand “Captain Rogers.” Mj looked at him and firmly shook his hand, then pulled out her book and flipped to one of the later pages. 

     “Thanks Steve. Here’s a drawing of your face right after someone saw you in the museum.” She held it out to him. Peter had to laugh, it was a perfect representation of his obvious distress after being discovered. Rogers appeared to be frozen, staring at the page with an unreadable expression on his face. Peter’s best guess was mortification.  Muffled laughter came from behind him as Nat and Bucky peeked over his shoulder at the drawing.

     “Always a pleasure to see you, Michelle.” Nat said, barely hiding her amusement.

     “I like this one” Bucky said, snorting as he caught another glimpse of the sketch “I haven’t seen Stevie make that face since -Mmph!” The rest of his sentence came out rather muffled as Steve slapped a hand over his mouth.

     “Well, you two should probably be getting back to your class, right?” He sputtered, somehow more red than before “It was very nice to meet you, Mj, you have lot of promise-Hey!” He whirled around to glare at Bucky, who apparently licked his hand “That is very childish of you, stop laughing!” The super soldier chased after his chortling friend, and Natasha smiled, side hugging Peter before strolling into the locker room.

     “Goodbye, маленький паук.” 

     Peter and Mj began walking back to their class, which was listening half heartedly as Katie explained the rules for their next tour area. Flash was glaring at them, obviously unwilling to cause a scene with his bruised ego. They caught Ned’s attention, who pushed his way through the crowd to get to them. As he began excitedly talking about the next stop, Mj laughed under her breath and nudged Peter. Confused, he leaned towards her.

     “I just realized she called you “little spider”” she whispered into his ear. 

     He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine some kid growing up with like, hippie parents who don't believe in public education or the media so they are effectively under a rock until they get to high school where they move to a new public school. then they have to watch the Cap PSAs and don't even know who Captain America is, so they just kinda go with it and never ask anyone about it. until one day during their senior year a huge alien battle breaks out near the school, everyone's watching out the window in awe as Cap slams some green dude with his shield, and all they can say is "wtf is PSA dude doing"  
> no one knows how to react.  
> would that be wack or what  
> Thank you guys for reading!


	9. Peter Just Might Stab Flash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash is a jerk and Midtown +Peter continue to their final stop of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahsgajgsjasg I have a bunch to say but first, shout out to the lovely @protecthefuckingbees who's beta reading this mess. it's a huge help and I can't thank you enough.  
> second, I have two apologies to make:  
> 1, to the artistic and mcu community as a whole, I was an absolute fool for not drawing Peter's jeans cuffed before today. it was a grievous mistake on my part and I will do my best to correct it in the future.  
> 2\. for accidentally dying. turns out starting a project like this during the busiest time of your life is a bad idea, and there will likely be a few more (although shorter) hiatuses down the line. If you want to hear my full excus-explanation, keep reading until the end notes!  
> enjoy the read!

     “When we get to this next floor, please make sure not to touch anything, especially if it is shut or covered, because it is more than likely it is supposed to be that way.” Katie paused for effect “We wouldn’t want anybody losing a limb on this trip.” a murmur of laughter rippled through the students surrounding her. They couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not

     Peter tried to ignore the stares from his peers as their guide finished her speech, After the incident in the training room they were obviously curious, and he couldn’t help hearing their muffled whispers and quick glances. It was weird, not blending into the background. His friends seemed to notice his unease and stepped closer to him. 

     A harsh whisper interrupted their conversation, startling Peter and Ned. MJ, as always, was unfazed.

     “Ok, Penis, maybe I was a little wrong” He said, apologetically, voice low to not alert the teachers who were talking nearby “you obviously don’t have enough money to pay off someone like Tony Stark, and don’t get me wrong, you’re definitely pathetic enough to make some poor employee take pity on you” the corners of Flash’s mouth turned up into an evil grin, his voice changing to reflect the murderous look in his eye “But, I don’t think you did either of those things.” Peter frowned, what the hell was he insinuating? “ How could I not have seen it sooner, You gotta get your name somewhere, penis.” He poked Peter in the chest, obviously proud of himself “That’s what you are, right? Stark’s little boytoy?”

     Peter could feel the rage building in his chest as Ned and Mj stood shocked next to him. How dare Flash accuse him, accuse Mr. Stark of something like that? The thought made him want to retch. 

     “Oh my gosh, Penis, are you about to cry? Now that you’ve been called out?” Flash, howling with laughter stepped backward where his goons were chuckling. The teen could feel the white-hot tears begin to fill his eyes, he tried to hold them back but everything was just building up, threatening to spill over. He hardly noticed the crescents he was cutting into his palms as he clenched his fists. Hardly noticed Ned stepping in front of him, and MJ shutting her sketchbook. 

     “You are just disgusting, Flash.” Ned fumed, glaring at the still laughing bully.

     “What are you gonna do about it, fatso?” Flash replied gleefully “like anyone would believe you over me once this gets out. Plus, who’s to say he isn’t?”

     MJ walked forwards, stopping just in front of Flash, who stopped laughing once she fixed her steely gaze on him. She grabbed his chin, moving his jaw around as if examining a specimen. After a second, he pushed her hand off and she flipped open her sketchbook, furiously writing something down.

     “What the hell was that, freak?” He burst, rubbing his cheek as if she hurt him “show me what you’re writing!” Flash attempted to grab her sketchbook, but she twisted around him and sent him stumbling forwards. Straightening her back, Mj pretended to read off the page as Flash whipped around to say something.

     “It’s fascinating really,” She quipped, eyes still appearing to scan the page “I’ve never seen such an exemplary example of the merits of birth control”

     “What?” was all Flash could say, the joke lost entirely on him.

     “You. Are. A. Waste. Of. Space.” MJ responded, accentuating every syllable “Maybe if you didn’t waste so much brain power on half-assed theories you’d have enough to make more than alternate on the team, Eugene” She shrugged, reopening the book and pulling her pencil from her hair.

     “I-What the, you little-” Flash shrieked, voice raising a few octaves before he was cut off by a firm hand on his shoulder.

     “Flash, what are you yelling about?” Harrington said in that quietly dangerous tone adults have when they want you to stop doing something. 

     “Uh, nothing s-sir.” He stammered, torn between his anger and not getting in trouble.

     “Well, how about you all come and rejoin the class so you don’t cause any more problems,” Harrington replied coolly, shooting a pointed look at Peter. He raised an eyebrow at the miserable expression on his face. Peter nodded, the three following Harrington as he deposited Flash at one end of the group, and stood with them at the other.

      Now away from their tormentor, Peter could feel himself calming down. Leave it to him to almost cry in front of the whole class. Over something as stupid as that. But it just felt wrong. It was gross. He would never- Tony would never. 

     “Hey, it’s ok man. I still don’t think he even believes you have an internship.” Ned assured him, still staring daggers at the back of Flash’s head.

     “He’s just trying to get under your skin,” Mj added, lifting her head to give Peter a sympathetic look.

     Peter knew. That’s all Flash ever did, and there’s absolutely no way he’d let himself believe that Peter worked here in the first place, let alone would do that. But still, even if Flash didn’t believe it, all it took was for someone else to.

 

" alt="F" />

     “T-thanks guys, I figure he doesn’t, it’s just…” He didn’t want to vocalize his thoughts “... what if someone else does? I don’t know what I’d do.” crap, he was sniffling again. _ I guess I could handle it _ , he thought. But what if it did become a rumor? And Mr. Stark found out? He'd probably be disgusted. Maybe he’d take the suit, and make him and May leave.  _ Maybe he’d never want to see Peter again. _ Peter inhaled sharply as the guide swiped her card and the elevator doors opened.  _ Get yourself together, Peter, It won’t become a big deal, no one will care and Mr. Stark certainly won’t care. _

     He felt his body relaxing and grinned weakly at his friends who grinned back. Katie finished her spiel and started directing the students back onto the large elevator, Mr. Everson making sure that Flash was on one side, and Mr. Harrington shuffling in on the other. He motioned for Peter to stand by him, so the trio followed the crowd into the lift.

     “Don’t worry about it, Peter, even if he does try and start something, we’ll still be here.” Mj mumbled, nudging him with her shoulder. Ned followed suit, bumping their arms together and laughing halfheartedly.

     “Honestly, I’d just like to see him try, imagine his face when all the Avengers show up to have a chat with his parents” He snickered. Peter couldn’t help but laugh with him, as much as he’d hate for any of them to catch wind of this, it was a nice scene. As the elevator began moving, he glanced at the floors. They were slowly going up, and even though Peter knew every floor above 84 like the back of his hand, he had no idea where they could possibly go next.

     “Uh, Ned, did I miss something? Where are we going?” He mumbled into Ned’s ear. He shrugged, then leaned back over to respond.

     “Sorry, I kinda forgot during the whole Flash thing. I know it’s somewhere super important, and it’s a privilege, and we can’t take photos, and-” Ned was interrupted from his retelling of Katie’s speech by Peter snorting and punching his arm “ok, ok, dude! *gasp* what if we go up to the penthouse! Do you think they’d make you show us your room?” He exclaimed, grabbing Peter’s arm. The young vigilante shushed him and flashed an innocent smile at Harrington who was looking at them suspiciously. 

     “No way, man. I cleaned it this morning and all, but even if I didn’t I don’t want the whole class to see my room.” Peter grimaced, thinking about all the things he forgot to do that morning.” well, mostly clean.”

     “You still haven’t had me over yet,” Mj interjected, shooting him a dramatic look before returning to her drawing.

     “I know, I know, I just moved in though, and quite frankly,” He hated the blush he could feel gathering on his face “I just know they’d all give me a hard time...about...y’know” She rolled her eyes as he stumbled over his words. 

     “Just tell them we’re friends, idiot.” if only it were that easy, especially with Clint.

     “I swear I’ll have both of you over soon. As long as I don’t die before this trip is over.” He sighed as the Elevator came to a stop. At least FRIDAY hadn’t assaulted him this time.

     “As if. Look, after this stop, Mr. Stark will probably come to get you, then we’ll go to dinner, and be bored while you have a blast with the Avengers.” Ned groaned.

     Peter didn’t bother to look at the floor numbers as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. He could only hold his breath and hope upon hope that it was just some random area he didn’t know about, and not the foyer with pictures of the Avengers and him hanging every few feet. But it wasn’t. The students didn’t ooh and ahh at all, instead, they were faced with a small, square grey room with a glass divider and door across from them. Peter gulped as the tour guide started forwards, holding out her key card to a small panel next to the door. The speech she gave earlier was starting to make more sense.

They were about to enter Tony Stark’s private lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok!I swear this is the last time I'll make any excuses for not posting, since it's also the only time I have legit excuses lmao:  
> 1\. Turns out the mock trial sketch artist thing wasn't just regional, so now I'm state champion and get to go and compete at nationals for my state. which is hella cool but if my team doesn't win state I'm doing it by myself, soooo ://  
> 2\. I leave for the competition thursday right after school. I'm there until Saturday evening  
> 3\. I take the SAT tomorrow and I'm trying not to throw up everywhere even though I feel prepared  
> 4\. Sunday I got to South Carolina ComicCon!! if you're gonna be there, keep an eye out for Sal Fisher in an E-Girl outfit (if my wig comes in time), or, a, uhhhh, large cartoon dog, also in an e-Girl outfit. I'd love to say hi!  
> So, I'm going to do my best to post chapter 10 tomorrow night or thursday, but after that I likely won't post until monday or tuesday. sorry 'bout that :/  
> But! I will possibly have time to respond to comments and continue writing while I'm gone, so when I do get back I'll have an actual posting schedule back up!  
> Thank you guys for understanding, reading, and feel free to leave a comment or criticism in the comments!  
> ily!


	10. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Guess I'll Die ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midtown receives a rude awakening, Peter's poorly crafted facade crumbles around him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Murdock finally posted!   
> So So sorry about that, it's been a rough few weeks, but I have plenty of stories to tell about 'em!  
> anyways, it may be a few more days before chapter 11 is up, I'm rather stumped on it so I might end up reworking most of it. But I'm going to try and respond to comments in the meantime, so look out for that.  
> Also, this chapter won't have a picture for a little while, I have it finished but since my laptop got yeeted I have to use my school Chromebook to upload stuff, and the site I use to upload images is suddenly blocked. no idea why, but I'm working around it. Thanks for your patience, and enjoy!

     The Midtown High tour group slowly filtered into the brightly lit room, murmuring amongst themselves at the foggy glass wall and door. It certainly wasn’t what they were expecting, such a small entrance to what was supposedly a technological treasure trove. Katie waded to the front of the mass of children, holding the keycard and smiling until the peers quieted.

     “Apart from the lights, nothing in the lab will be activated for your safety as well as preserving the confidential nature of some of Stark’s projects. Only someone with sufficient clearance, or someone who has their Biometrics in FRIDAYS system will be able to access anything, so please do not attempt to.” Peter could feel his stomach doing flips inside him, he never considered that the power was automated, he just kind of, assumed that the lab was always on. Which was dumb, but he had more important things to worry about than his critical thinking. Or lack thereof 

     As if sensing the growing anticipation of the high schoolers, Katie brushed over the rules, instead fidgeting with the card and rushing through some more information.

     “I’m actually just as excited as I’m sure all of you are, I’ve never been up here before!” She gushed “in fact, just about no one has. The only people allowed in Mr. Stark’s lab to date are himself, Ms. Potts, Dr. Banner, and a… select few of the other Avengers.” she paused to take a breath. Peter knew exactly why not all of the Avengers were allowed into the lab, a certain lightning-inclined god had made sure of it. Katie continued a moment later “Our college tours have never been able to visit, and we don’t even usually allow High Schools to tour, so y’all must be one lucky bunch.” She winked “Now, why don’t we get on with the show?”

     Quickly swiping the card, FRIDAY announced her clearance, unlocking the large door. Katie swept through it, the overhead lights in the room slowly brightening to illuminate the huge workspace. The students slowly followed, some gasping at the beautiful room, others completely silent in awe. 

     The misty glass wall extended down to either end of the room, with smooth white concrete floors. The far left end opened into a large circular space, with large rectangular sheets of metal covering spaces in the grey wall. In the center of the area was a grated podium surrounded by hanging wires and attachments. The opposite end of the room had stark (hah) white walls, covered in shelves and a small kitchenette. Besides the counter was a nice tan couch with a Star Wars blanket draped over it. Both ends were connected by a huge metal shutter that appeared to be the fourth wall. The whole space was filled with an assortment of work tables and rolling cabinets.

     Peter silently thanked Mr. Stark for making him clean up, it all looked so professional without the clutter. He was also able to put away anything belonging to himself that would be compromising, so as long as no one dug too deep he should be fine. At least he hadn’t left the lego set he planned on giving to Ned, that would definitely give him away. 

     “Whoa” Ned breathed, walking dazedly into the room. He had only been in there once, and it was only to grab Peter’s phone, which he had left before they started a movie marathon. Even MJ had put down her book, looking curiously through the small machines and unfinished projects dotted around the tables. Peter, meanwhile, stood just outside the door, hoping that Mr. Harrington would just let him sit this one out, as part of his “punishment”. But the teacher stared at him quizzically as the last dregs of the kids entered the room, and he began to realize he might have to actually make a run for it. 

     Mr. Harrington stepped between the last few kids and looked at Peter, who was trying to blend in with the grey wall behind him.

     “Well? Aren’t you going in, Mr. Parker?” He asked, placing his hands on his hips.

     “Ah, No, No it’s fine, Mr. Harrington, really, I can just stay out here, and, and” Peter hastily stammered out, backing as far into the corner as he could. “Think about what I’ve done? Yeah, yeah, that works.” Harrington sighed and shook his head before looking at Peter tiredly.

     “Look, I can’t just leave you out there, and I’ve been dying to see this lab forever, so you’re not really gonna get a choice in this.” He said, making a “come on” motion for Peter before walking through the door. The teen considered running then and there, but Harrington didn’t keep walking, he turned around, arms folded, and stared directly at him as if daring him to try something. Peter looked to Ned and MJ for help, but they were preoccupied with a tiny model of DUM-E that was sitting quietly on a table. Mr Harrington cleared his throat expectantly, and Peter had no choice but to groan inwardly and step tensely into the room.

     For a split second, nothing happened, and he felt his body relax. Maybe his Parker Luck had finally tortured him enough.

     Suddenly, the lab sprung to life.

     “Welcome back, Peter,” FRIDAY said, spooking everyone in the room “I will let the boss know you are here.

     “Yeah, yeah, that’s great Fri. just great.” He mumbled in return, as his classmates gaped at the multiple blue holograms appearing throughout the space. Including a few that definitely did not need to be up. In full panic mode he quickly ran through the room, wiping away some of the images and stats before his peers could protest. The metal shutter began to rise, revealing a floor to ceiling window with a stunning view of the skyline, bathing the lab in the golden light of early evening. underneath the din of the chatter and whirring machinery, Peter caught the slight noise of a panel beginning to slide. 

     “Peter, would you like to resume where you left off on your su-” FRIDAY began before Peter yelled frantically over her, spotting the edge of the latest Spiderman suit as the hidden panel concealing it began to turn around.

     “NO! Nope, FRIDAY, no need for that, there is absolutely nothing I am working on right now or ever.” To his relief, the panel closed, and everyone seemed too distracted by, well, everything else. However, immediately afterwards, the sound started again, louder this time, and Peter whipped around to find the walls concealing the Iron man suits opening steadily.

     “Peter, boss has requested that I ask you when you would have the new thruster schematics done the next time you were in the lab” FRIDAY stated, Peter could’ve sworn he heard smugness in her voice.

      “Tell him-Just tell him I’ll have them done...soon” He yelled, exasperated, waving his arms at the ceiling “Please just shut the doors already!”

     “Of course, Peter” the AI responded. The panels concealing Iron Man Marks XLVII to LV opened completely, then began to close at a painfully slow pace. Each second the suits were exposed was a year off Peter’s life. At least, that’s what it felt like. Finally, the panels had sealed again, and he leaned on a nearby cloth-covered machine, letting out a heavy sigh. Hopefully, everyone had been too busy with the window and possibly confidential holograms to notice. Slowly he turned around, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible, but the damage had already been done. Everyone in the lab was staring at him, the now-closed wall behind him, and the workbench currently displaying some detailed and fairly messy suit schematics.

     “Uhhhh” Peter started, fully aware that he looked like a stepped-on tomato “I...told you so?” Katie’s face changed from one of shock to recognition.

     “Oh, you’re him!” She exclaimed, shattering the awkward silence that had descended over the room. “Y’know when everyone was talking about how Stark hired some kid as an assistant I didn’t think he meant… a literal kid.” Frowning, she rubbed her chin thoughtfully “I guess that explains just about everything that’s happened today.”

     “Peter had told us previously about his internship, and I believed that he had some kind of arrangement here, but I didn’t know he actually worked here.” Mr. Harrington said, throwing an apologetic look to the teen. Peter looked at the teachers hopefully.

     “So, does that mean I can go now?” He asked, nervously fiddling with his web shooters under his flannel.

     Harrington and Everson’s eyes turned cold.

     “Of course not!” Mr Everson exclaimed, spreading his arms in exasperation “We can’t just let a student walk off on a field trip, we still have a responsibility to make sure you’re not wandering around Stark Industries. Heck, you aren’t even supposed to be here! Or anywhere, until next week at least. According to your aunt, you were in a car accident and broke your ankle, which” He pointedly looked Peter up and down “does not seem to be the case.”

     “You should be at home, recuperating, not trying to sneak on a field trip.” Mr Harrington added, the disapproval evident in his voice. Peter stared at the floor, shrinking under the scrutiny of everyone in the room as the men chastised him.  Being able to hear the hushed whispers of his classmates didn’t make it any better.

     “Do you think he’s serious”

     “I can’t believe he was telling the truth the whole time.Well, the internship part anyways”

    “How did Parker end up with a gig like this?

     “Maybe he’ll introduce us to Spiderman!”

     Katie interrupted them with a quick, loud rap on a metal table top.

     “Okay, everyone, we have thirty minutes before we head down to dinner, so make the most of it!”  the whispers were replaced by regular chatter, and the students returned to walking around the lab. Harrington and Everson eventually left as well, moving to monitor the groups and ensure there were no accidents involving the contents of the lab. This left Peter standing awkwardly in front of the wall of suits, free to stew in his own misery.

     Ned and Mj joined him soon after and the three leaned back against the wall, sliding down to the floor. None of them said anything for a moment, before Ned let out a small laugh, turning slightly to Peter

     “Well, it could’ve gone worse.” Peter smiled and shoved him lightheartedly. Leave it to Ned to drag him out of a bad mood.

     “I guess the suits could’ve all exploded” He reasoned.

     “Harrington could’ve just straight up removed your toes” Mj added.

     “The tower could have collapsed, killing us all” Peter was laughing now. They sat there for a while, laughing and proposing increasingly more disastrous situations until Katie once again knocked on a table and announced that they had ten minutes left.

     As she said it, the overhead lights flickered and a strange rumbling noise filled the room. The students gasped and mumbled uneasily, grouping together near the center of the room. Peter shot up, his hand going instinctively to the pocket where his mask was as the noise grew louder. And closer.

     Was that… screaming?

     The other occupants of the room were beginning to visibly panic, and as the situation and volume escalated, Katie waved for their attention and began directing everyone towards the exit to the lab.

     Peter did not move as his friends started forward, he was too focused on the sound. It was oddly familiar, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. But he’d figure out soon enough, he thought as his hand closed around the mask. Everyone would be turned around, they wouldn’t notice if he just disappeared for a moment. 

     Whatever it was had almost arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this should just be called Murdock Apologizing For Being Late lmao  
> Ok, so here's the rundown of what happened during my unfortunate absence:  
> \- I was not kidnapped  
> -I went to state with my Mock Trial team  
> -it was a blast I had so much fun holy heck??  
> \- we didn't win so I'm going to nationals by myself and ngl I'm not too excited about that  
> -I may have caught a horrible case of the uwus for someone but I'm ignoring that as long as possible  
> \- SC ComicCon was amazing I had so much fun!! I only went as Sal and didn't get to suit or be an E-Girl but it was still great  
> -I saw Captain Marvel and OOF I am very straight but Carol Danvers can step on my neck ANY DAY   
> \- Shattered my Laptop XD XD X'D  
> -I got my license today?? Beep Beep B*tches  
> -Midterms are this week so I've been catching up on make up work, shuld be done soon!  
> \- I have a ton more ideas for fics so once this is done I'll start working on those and posting them!!  
> that's all for today, folks! look out for chapter 11 at some point this week lol


	11. Sister Snapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash takes the L, finally, and Tony Stark is too old for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I apologize enough? probably not.  
> anyways, as it turns out I have CDD, (Chronic Dumbass disease) and it's incurable.   
> I was working on this chapter, got stuck, and took a short break. I swear it was short. but then it got long :/  
> So today I went back to try and finally tackle my stump, and as it turns out, I ALREADY FINISHED THE CHAPTER.   
> But, try and enjoy despite my ineptitude at time management.   
> still no art, sorry, I haven't been able to get it working for a bit. and as always, a short little life update in the end notes. whoo!

     Before anyone had even left the room, one of the ceiling vents slammed open, and a screeching blur of blonde, blue and purple dropped out, landing on the concrete floor with a solid * _ thunk*,  _ before shooting through the crowd of students and out of the room. It hit the back of the elevator and the doors slid shut, cutting off the string of expletives and shrieks.

     The sudden appearance and disappearance left everyone in shocked silence, no one moved, no one spoke, they could only stare at the metal doors. It didn’t last long though, as the pounding footsteps resumed, accompanied by a more distinguishable and much angrier voice.  The vent grate still hanging from the ceiling began to swing as the stomping drew nearer, the shouting growing louder until it was right above them. 

     “I TOLD YOU TO PUT ON PANTS AND STAY OUT OF THE VENTS YOU DUMBASS BIRD FU-”

     Tony Stark fell out of the open grate, charcoal suit jacket wrinkled over an oil-stained AcDc shirt, disheveled hair sticking out everywhere as he landed, brandishing a very obviously enhanced paintball gun filled with neon rainbow orbs. 

     The rage previously on his face vanished as he realized that not only was he in his lab but said lab was full of high school students who looked like they were about to explode.  He stiffened, standing up straight to dump the gun unceremoniously onto a nearby table and dust himself off. The silence of the children as he dramatically straightened his suit and slid his sunglasses onto his face was unnerving, generally, someone would’ve said something by now, especially if they recognized him.

     “Uhhh,” he said, looking over the crowd and spreading his arms.

     “I’m Tony Stark”

     This seemed to break the spell that had been put over them, and he was promptly swarmed with over-eager faces and a wall of questions. 

     “Whoa, whoa, slow down there.” He shouted over the din “ One at a time, please, don’t touch the suit” 

     Peter and his friends hung back, staring awkwardly as the man was accosted by their peers. He wasn’t sure, exactly, what to do, half of him wanted to run up to him and beg to be taken out of the trip, so he could go back upstairs, eat way too many chips, and sleep for twelve hours. The other half wanted to fade into the background and hope Tony didn’t notice him until he had to leave and then slip out with him. And a teeny tiny part of him really wanted to chew him out, since he was probably responsible for the mess he was in, considering he likely knew the class would be at Banner’s lab and sent him anyways.

     “Peter! He’s right there!” Ned said, slowly inching towards the fray “if you really want to abandon us, now’s the time!” Peter rolled his eyes

     “I’m not  _ abandoning  _ you, I just really don’t want to be here, where you currently happen to be” He retorted. 

     “Dude, just go home. As Ned said, he’s literally right there. Just get his attention and he’ll have it sorted out in a heartbeat.” MJ stated, gesturing towards where Iron Man was desperately trying to maintain control over the students hounding him for information. Harrington, Everson, and Shielding all still seemed a bit too stunned by his sudden entrance to help.

     “Look, I’m just going to hang back here with you guys, eventually it’ll be time to go, I’ll just try and leave with him.” He replied, fidgeting with the red material in his hands.

     “Why though?” Ned said, exasperated “ if you got his attention he’d realize what was up! You’d get to leave, Flash could never talk again, not to mention you’d be able to really flex on our classmates.” he mimed flexing one of his arms.

     “We’ve been over this!” Peter hissed, slightly louder to combat the noise “ I really, really don’t want people to know! What if they pieced together some stuff about a particular arachnid we both know?  Plus they’d treat me different! Like way different!”

     “ You do the stupidest things every day and no one’s noticed yet. And what’s so bad about that?” His friend responded, throwing out his arms in frustration “we get treated like crap by half the school, maybe it’d be a nice change of pace!”

     “ We make fun of people who try and suck up to that Flash and that one new rich kid all the time, we both know that neither of us wants to have to deal with all that!”

     “Guys”

     “ yeah, but people would get bored eventually! You don’t have an excuse, just go!!” 

     “Guys.”

     “If I go and ask him now he’d embarrass me!” Peter burst, doing his best to convey exactly how much he  _ did not _ want that to happen. “ In front of the whole class too! I would never live it down!”

     “Guys.”

     “Peter you are  _ so. Stubborn.  _ This is literally the solution to all your current problems and you are avoiding it for No. Reason.” Ned finished, grabbing Peter by the shoulders and sternly staring at him. He opened his mouth to respond but MJ interrupted him before he could speak.

     “GUYS.” She rolled her eyes and shoved both of them. “I think we have an audience.”

     The boys turned to see the entire class, the teachers, the tour guide, and Tony staring blankly at them. Peter was suddenly very aware of the crumpled red fabric he was clenching in his hand and quickly shoved it back into his pocket. The teen felt his heart jump as his mentor's eye’s locked with his, and his forced press smile morphed into a genuine grin. And it immediately sunk when the grin turned into a sly smirk. Ned let go of him and he stepped backward, trying to act like everything was cool. The blood rushing to his cheeks betrayed him, of course. Mr. Stark faced him, the crowd parting to see where the genius billionaire was now focusing. 

    “Hey, Pete.” 

    “H-hey Mr. Stark”

     Stark glanced down at his watch pointedly before looking at Peter over the tops of his sunglasses

     “ Guess you beat me down here. Ah well. I hope you’ve been having fun.” He said dismissively, shooting him a wink before turning back to the group that was growing increasingly more confused. 

     “Any last questions before I skedaddle? One at a time, please, I’m a very busy man, with lots of… important business-y things to do.” Tony coaxed, folding his arms and glancing confidently around at the very full room. Peter could just barely see him rubbing his left arm with his thumb. A thin blonde girl quickly raised her hand, not waiting for Stark to finish calling on her before she blurted out her question

     “ why were you chasing Hawkeye through the vents?” 

     “ Uhm, yeah, you are all gonna get swamped with NDAs over that, just a heads up. Anyway the long and short of it is that he keeps walking around half naked and scaring innocent people. Half the tower thinks the place is haunted ‘cause of him. He won’t stop even though I’ve told him to so I took matters into my own hands.” he shrugged nonchalantly “ Can’t say I expected visitors.”

     Well, that explained why he seemed nervous, Peter thought, though he doubted anyone else could see past the carefully crafted facade he put up. Having cameras shoved in your face your entire life would do that to you but he knew the man well enough by now to know when he was genuinely uncomfortable. Which was odd, he figured Tony set the whole thing up, but he didn’t seem to have any idea that the class would be in the lab. Interesting.

    The next hand shot up. 

    “How do you know Peter?”

     Stark hesitated for a moment before clearing his throat and answering. It was the closest to “speaking carefully” Peter had ever seen him get.

    “Peter is my personal intern, which basically means he helps me out with pretty much everything I do, especially here in the lab.”

     The pride in his voice made the teen’s heart squeeze, just a little.

     “I thought Stark Industries only accepts college interns if they do at all?”

     “That is correct. And since I know where you’re going with this, Peter isn’t an intern for SI, he’s my personal intern. Huge difference.” He clapped his hands together “ Any non-Peter related questions?”

    “How do you steer your suit while in flight?”

    “That is a very good question. You see,”

    The next ten minutes Peter spent standing awkwardly with his friends behind a worktable as Tony answered various questions about the company, himself, and Iron Man. Mostly Iron Man. His ordeal seemed to be drawing to a close, as Mr. Stark announced that he’d only be taking one more question before the school would head back down for dinner. Of course, the last hand still up in the air belonged to a very self-assured looking Flash, who flipped his hair smugly when he was called on. This did not affect the hair, considering it was slicked back with an absurd amount of gel. 

    “ I know you said you didn’t want any more of these questions, sir, but I really had to ask.” Flash snarked “ how’d you end up with Parker? I mean, a whole school full of brilliant nerds and you got the one that can’t even stay awake for half his classes. I just don’t get it.”

     The kid in question winced. Why did he have to go and do this now? Not to mention he didn’t want Mr. Stark knowing about the sleeping in class thing, but he could worry about that another time. Right now he needed to worry about the darkness gathering over his mentor’s face, and how his grimace could hardly pass as a smile. 

    “ And you are?” He said coolly, every ounce of his voice dripping with contempt. The boy’s confidence faltered under his scrutiny.

    “Flash Thompson, sir.” he burst, standing ramrod straight.

     “Well, Mr. Thompson, let me first ask you first what exactly you bring to the table.” Tony swiped his hand over the worktable, bringing up a screen that he quickly typed something into, prompting a few smaller displays to appear with it. He grabbed one and tossed it in front of him. The dozens of forms, papers, and photos floated in the space, separating the billionaire from the teen, who seemed increasingly unsure of what to do with his hands.

     Tony grabbed one that seemed to be a government form and glanced over it blankly.

     “ Ah, Eugene Thompson, seventeen years old, born May 16th, 2002, 2:03 am at Mount Sinai Queens Hospital, room 584. Rosy Anne’s Preschool, Gordon Elementary School, Kingston Private Middle School, and now Midtown School of Science and Technology.” He said dismissively, as Flash’s jaw hit the floor. The brewing drama was beginning to send the students into a frenzy, the whispers grew steadily in volume as the billionaire continued spilling everything about Thompson.

     “ Junior, Physics, Algebra 2, American Lit, and Physical education this semester, their respective grades are 82, 90, 86, and 97, your GPA, 3.1. Kinda interesting, considering you’re in a school with an overall GPA of 3.9.” He stated, grabbing another holographic document from the air. The only reason the situation was still under a modicum of control was the overwhelming need of the kids to see how this would pan out. 

     Peter, on the other hand, could barely watch through his hands, which were firmly stationed over his face. As awful as Flash was, he didn’t really deserve to be humiliated by Iron Man in front of his peers. MJ, however, seemed to be enjoying it, judging by her furious scribbling beside him.

     “Wh-what exactly are you implying?” Flash appeared to have gathered enough courage to speak up, albeit quietly.

     “I’m not implying anything, simply stating the facts.” Stark retorted, waving his hand and sending the form back into the collection. “Including the fact that you are here, at this school because your parents have, let’s say connections, and those connections may get you by there, but you don’t exactly have a lot of pull in my Tower.” Flash wisely chose not to say anything, though his stammering may have been an attempt at a response.

    Tony turned on his heel, shoving a finger in Peter’s direction, taking everyone’s eyes with it. The teen could only lower his head further into his hands.

    “Peter here, on the other hand, sixteen years old, straight A’s in every school he’s attended, including Midtown, even though he’s taking six classes this semester, so talented he got a full-ride scholarship to Midtown, and has literally solved equations in his sleep.” He stepped past Flash and dropped his arm over Peter’s shoulders, grabbing his neck when he tried to discreetly escape.

    “He’s got a 4.3 GPA, I trust him with my life, and, hell, the kid’s probably smarter than I am.” He glanced at Peter, who was trying desperately to not exist beside him “well, probably.”

    Tony’s cool voice hardly concealed the anger that was about to bubble over, Peter shifted uncomfortably as the grip on his back of his neck tightened with every word.

     “Now you say you wonder why I chose him, above everyone else in this room and I gave you quite a few reasons. Now, tell me, since it’s obviously what you meant to ask, why should I have picked you? What do you bring to the table?” Flash tried to say something, but the words died in his throat under the scrutiny of his classmates and the steely fury in the hero’s eyes. 

    “M-Mr Stark you really don’t-” 

    “Nope, Pete, I really do” He popped the p in nope.

    “ I’ve seen your files, I know virtually everything there is to know about you. And I’ve seen all the crap you’ve pulled today. What, did you forget you’re in a building more technologically advanced than most spaceships, with few exceptions? There are cameras everywhere.”

    He pulled Peter in a little closer to his side.

    “So I suggest you don’t lay another finger on my kid, or, actually, do, and see what happens. Try me.” Tony spat, finishing his spiel to a silent room. Flash, visibly wounded, scurried to the back of the crowd, grumbling to his bodyguards, who didn’t know what to do with him. Stark faced Peter again and raised an eyebrow at his pained expression.

    “So, why exactly were you missing all day? Obviously, I know about the field trip bit, Steve texted me halfway through that meeting about it- I only went ‘cause you never showed- but how’d you end up on it?” He paused in mock deep thought “fun? Just because? Wanted to hang out with your friends instead of your lame old man?” Did he just call himself “my old man”? 

    “ Uh, no when I went down to… talk to Bruce, they were all there, and I got kinda… absorbed.” Peter glared back at him “ I thought you knew they were there and set this whole thing up!” The older man looked even more confused now.

    “Yeah, I definitely didn’t know, why would I send you down there with your  _ stuff _ if your classmates were gonna show up?

     “Maybe for the same reason that they had security passes to the Avengers gym and the lab?”

     “Well, I certainly did not do that.”

     The class watched in fascination as the two bickered back and forth. It was certainly quite the sight, the famous billionaire and super-hero in a t-shirt and blue jeans arguing animatedly with a usually mild-mannered teenager who hardly spoke to anyone apart from his few friends and teachers. Half of what they were talking about didn’t make a ton of sense, but what they did pick up on had something to do with spiderman and chore charts. Tony was the first to break the conversation.

     “Ok, hold up, here’s a better question; why didn’t you just leave? All you had to do was turn around and walk to an elevator, or find a more, uh, creative means, but you just let them drag you around a tower you know like the back of your hand?”

     “I just wanted to hang out with my friends?” Peter replied, desperately hoping he sounded convincing. Tony was not convinced.

     “Uh, nope, nuh-uh.” He chided “Ted? I know I can listen to you, what’s his deal?”

     Ned dutifully responded “Mr. Harrington and Mr. Everson didn’t let him leave because they thought he snuck onto the trip, and he didn’t even try because he doesn’t want people to know about all this” He gestured to Tony and the lab. The former gasped dramatically and stepped back from the teen. 

    “Pete, I’m hurt. You didn’t want them to know that we’re, like, totally besties?” 

    “Oh my gosh, Mr. Stark” Peter groaned, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling.

     “Anyways, I can torture you later, I’ve got bigger fish to fry. Uh, you two, I assume you are the teachers?” He wiggled two fingers at Mr. Everson and Mr. Harrington. The teachers paled and stepped in front of the students. 

    “Why, exactly, didn’t you let him return to whatever it was he was doing?” Tony snapped, pointing accusingly at the two men. Mr. Harrington spoke first.

    “We, uh thought he had snuck onto the trip and was trying to walk around the building unsupervised.”

    Stark sighed and rubbed his forehead with his thumb “If you had spent more than a second thinking about this you might’ve realized why none of that makes sense.”

    “What exactly do you mean by that, Mr. Stark?” Everson responded, sounding fairly indignant.

     “ Well, for one, he has the internship. That should be a red flag right there. Second, no one sneaks into the Tower, it can’t be done. Lastly, what motivation would he have to hijack your field trip? Aside from those passes, which I’ll be figuring out later, he’s been everywhere here, and I assure you domestic terrorism or selling my tech on the black market aren’t things he’s prone to involving himself in.”

     “I, I mean, we’re sorry.” Everson fumbled “It won’t happen again.”

     “ Though, I must ask, why is Peter here, instead of resting his ankle?” Harrington added.

     “ Oh yeah, that” Tony brilliantly added, “Uh, official Stark Internship business.”

     “Got it.” 

    The three men stared at each other awkwardly as the student body shifted restlessly.

     “Well, I think that’s enough excitement for today, you guys must be hungry.” The billionaire said, shooting a look at the tour guide, who began rounding up the straying students.

     “Make sure not to leave anything up here, I’m not incredibly willing to send Peter on any more errands today. Though it would be kinda funny-” He was cut off by the hollow thunk of an empty water bottle hitting the top of his head. Whipping around, he was faced with an unimpressed Peter staring directly at him, hand slightly angled towards another bottle.

    “Ok, I’m docking your pay.” 

    “I get paid?”   

    “No, I’m gonna start paying you so I can cut it.”

    He was met with the thunk of another bottle.

    “That’s it, you’re fired.” Tony shot, picking a bottle up from the floor and tossing it back at him.

     “You can’t fire me, you love me too much.” Peter retorted.  _ Oh no did I just say that? _ His mentor didn’t skip a beat before grabbing him around the shoulders and ruffling his hair unceremoniously.

     “Darn right.” 

     Even though the admission was clearly part of the joke, Peter couldn’t help but beam and laugh as the older man ran his hands through his curls. He shot at a look at his perplexed peers, who were almost fully loaded onto the elevator. Ned and Mj waved and smiled as the doors began to close, though Peter figured he’d have a chance to see them later on. 

     Once they were alone, Tony swiped forward a few new screens, already busying himself with setting up for some long hours of work. The boy was more than content to join him, pulling tools and his almost-finished sketches of some new web shooters from a drawer. A comfortable silence settled between the two as they began tinkering with ideas, new and old alike.

     “We will need to talk about that whole sleeping in class thing, Peter”

     “Mr.  _ Stark.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we go! This will be the end, for now, I'd like to start trying to write other things (still IronDad tho), but I will certainly be coming back to this particular storyline in the future.  
> So, the last couple of weeks have been a lot, but it is not for naught, don't worry.  
> -I got a job! Sis is finally makin bank,baby   
> -started dating that person I had uwus for, we went out twice, we aren't dating anymore :/ But it's seriously better this way lmao  
> \- The ghoul bois (Buzzfeed Unsolved) reposted my fanart of them from last week on their instagram and I passed out  
> -t-minus three days to Mock Trial nationals! I'm excited but I'm going to vomit.  
> Anyways, I'll see y'all around!


	12. Plot holes? I barely know... holes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> toyed with this bit for a while but finally got around to writing it after re-reading the fic and realizing how many plot holes there are! yay!   
> small update on life n things in the end notes, and I'm pleased to say that I have another oneshot in the works- that's been mentioned earlier ;)

     ”How'd you end up with Parker?  Flash said. The feed switches to a new angle, displaying a seething billionaire.

     “And you are?” Tony asked cooly.

     The dark room, illuminated only by the huge screen, flickers with each camera change. A figure seated in front of it smiles darkly as the snotty teen flounders in Stark’s glare. It had taken a lot of work to get to this point, hours of watching, waiting, manipulating schedules and creating trivial obstacles and excuses. But the look of plain fear and embarrassment on Eugene Thompson’s face made it more than worth it. And now, she was free to kick back in one of the most secure places in Stark Tower and watch as her master plan paid off. 

     “Thank you for the help today, FRIDAY, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

     “Of course, Ms. Romanoff, it certainly is entertaining.” The smug disembodied voice responded. “It appears your partner is crime has arrived.” 

     The room was filled with the sound of tiny clicks and whirs as the blast proof-door to FRIDAY’s mainframe was unlocked, and a rather excited woman carrying a bottle and two wine glasses hurried in. 

     “Ok, I’m here, please tell me I haven’t missed anything, Nat.” Pepper grins as she settles into a chair beside the assassin. Natasha accepted a glass and held it steady as Pepper poured a healthy serving of Rose. 

     “Don’t worry, it’s just getting started.” 

     “Good, I came as fast as I could but I had to get out of those heels.” the CEO laughed, sipping her own drink as she took stock of the screen, her face darkening at Flash “God I hate that kid.”  Natasha clinked her rose against Pepper’s at that.

     “You and me both. It took a lot for me not to break his arm when we were sparring earlier.” She snorted “if you could even call it that, the brat’s pathetic”

     Potts nodded as she watched Tony ranting over the security feed. 

     “I hope Peter isn’t too embarrassed by all this, Tony can be a lot sometimes. Oh, I’m going to feel awful if he’s mad at us,” she said, her face screwing up as she fretted.

     Romanoff raised a quizzical eyebrow at the woman next to her.

     “Yeah, the kid’s embarrassed as hell but why would he be mad? We just saved his ass.”

     “Well, yeah, but we also orchestrated pretty much everything, y’know, the call to Bruce’s lab, keycard, private tour,” Pepper started to list off the numerous measures they took to pull it all off. “We even had FRIDAY work the elevators, the lab, and monitor the whole thing. The only part we didn’t count on was Clint in the vents”

     “Indeed, Ms. Potts, and it’s been a pleasure” FRIDAY chimed in. 

     “Well, who said he ever had to know?” Natasha grinned. Pepper pushed her shoulder good-naturedly and settled in her seat as the kid and mentor quipped back and forth. It came so naturally to them, she couldn’t help but smile. 

     “I suppose you’re right.” Pepper paused “Do you think there’s any chance Thompson will give Peter a hard time after this?”

     “Believe me,” The assassin smirked “I’d love to see him try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop whoop! that should mark the official end of this fic, but I might expand on this particular universe in the future.
> 
> anyways, I just got back from Mock Trial Nationals, and I gotta say it was a BLAST. I didn't get to go with my school, but I'd been talking to some of the people from the team online for a while now, so meeting them irl was super cool. I didn't win any awards for sketch artist, but honestly not being last place out of eight people from around the US and a few other countries is super cool. they were also all really nice and I enjoyed walking around art museums with them :,)  
> While I may not have won, my team did win FIFTH IN THE NATION babeyyyyy!! I'm incredibly proud of them and I really hope to see them again next year.   
> Also, they canceled Spiderman and Deadpool and my life no longer has meaning :/

**Author's Note:**

> I am slowly but surely getting better at my human drawings and (hopefully) my writing so expect an increase in quality of the upcoming chapters!  
> I am also considering writing an identity reveal into the story near the end, which may not happen if I can't fit it in, but let me know if any of y'all would like to see one.  
> if it doesn't work out I might just make it a one-shot ;)
> 
> Please feel free to point out any mistakes or things for me to fix! you can not rebuild stronger without first tearing down the weak.  
> Thank Y'all!


End file.
